A Change in Destiny
by Lady Sabine of Macayhill
Summary: Harry Potter gets rescued from his abusive relatives by Lia Killian, a Muggleborn witch working as a social worker, at the age of nine. This unknowingly puts a kink in the plans Dumbledore has for him, and a very different Harry and his friends attend Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I had a dream in which Harry was being abused by the Dursleys but was rescued by a Muggleborn witch that was working as a social worker. The dream stuck with me, so I decided to write a fic based on this premise.

Story Summary: A young Muggleborn witch named Cornelia Killian, who is working as a social worker in Surrey, gets a phone call from Mrs. Figg about Harry Potter being abused by his relatives. Lia goes to investigate, and upon finding out that the report is true, removes Harry and starts the process of bringing the Dursleys up on charges of child abuse and seeing to it that Harry ends up in a stable and loving home. This ends up changing the plans that Professor Dumbledore has set up, and Harry ends up on his own path to reach his destiny.

Disclaimer for entire fic: I do not own Harry Potter. It is the property of the fantastic author J. K. Rowling.

Cornelia Martha Killian, or Lia as she was more commonly known, sat at her desk going over some paperwork. She had dark blonde hair, normally done up in a knot at her neck, and jade green eyes. She was a social worker, and had been working at this job for the past six months, but unknown to her co-workers she was also a witch and could do magic. Normally those with magical abilities, even ones that were Muggleborn like her, got wizarding jobs, but she had chosen otherwise.

Lia had come from a very religious family, though her mother's family had been more open-minded and accepting than her father's. However, both her parents were strict and narrow-minded, insisting on their life fitting their views and denouncing anything that they saw was against their religion. They had named her Cornelia after her father's mother, but had given her a Biblical name for her middle name, after one of the women that had been a follower of Jesus Christ.

When Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Head of Gryffindor House, had shown up to give Lia her acceptance letter and explain things, the Killians had been horrified. While they didn't actually go so far as to want 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live', they had a similar mindset. No matter how much Professor McGonagall tried to explain that magic wasn't evil witchcraft, and even explained that her own father had been a Presbyterian minister and had accepted his wife and children having magic, the Killians refused to listen.

Lia, on the other hand, didn't have a problem with being a witch, and tried to tell her parents that her magical abilities were a gift from God, pointing that the miracles that Jesus and the prophets had done could be seen as magic. When it became clear that she was determined to go to Hogwarts, and any threats to 'beat the evilness and witchcraft' out of her and have their vicar perform an exorcism just got Professor McGonagall protective of her, Mr. and Mrs. Killian disowned Lia.

Lia's maternal grandparents dropped by for a visit in the middle of all this, and once the situation had been explained to them, they sided with their granddaughter. They pointed out that the Bible verse's true translation was 'Thou shalt not suffer a poisoner to live', and ended up taking in Lia when their daughter and son-in-law refused to see reason and were adamant in disowning her. Lia had attended Hogwarts, and was Sorted into Gryffindor, with her grandparents' blessing and approval.

In her third year, she started tutoring a first-year Gryffindor named William Weasley, Bill for short, in Potions. By the end of the school year, he no longer needed help in Potions, but the two had become very good friends. When Lia's grandparents had died at the end of that summer, Bill had helped her recover from her grief, as he had two uncles who had died in the war when he was seven. That led to him inviting her to his home, the Burrow, for the Christmas holidays, and being _de facto_ adopted by the Weasley family. (Though she had other friends that were willing to let her live with them too.)

When it came time for her Career Advice session in fifth-year, Lia realized that she didn't really want to have a wizarding career, other than perhaps as a teacher at Hogwarts. What she really wanted was to have a job where she could work with children and help them, and other than a teacher or a Healer or Mediwitch specializing in healing children, there wasn't any in the wizarding world. Since none of the Hogwarts teachers were planning on retiring within a couple of years after Lia graduating and there appeared to be a curse on the Defense position, and the fact that she didn't want to be a Healer or Mediwitch, that left getting certification so she could get a job in the Muggle world.

Being a social worker came to mind, and she could keep an eye out for other Muggleborn children and help if they ended up with non-accepting parents like hers had been. Professor McGonagall accepted her reasoning, and had helped her with achieving her goal, which included drawing up a transcript with her magical subjects and grades translated to Muggle ones. Lia had also gotten tutoring over the summer in Muggle subjects (thanks to the money her grandparents had left her), and sat for her A-levels so she could attend university in order to get her certification in social work.

With some help via magic, she had been able to take the necessary coursework and graduate with the certification within two years, and then get a job at a social services office in Surrey. When Lia wasn't at work, she would visit Muggleborn children that were due to turn eleven within the next two or three years (thanks to a list that Professor McGonagall provided) and explain things. So far none of them had parents that reacted negatively to the reveal that their child was a witch or wizard, though a couple (like the Grangers), had been a bit wary at first.

The phone on Lia's desk rang and she answered it. "Hello, Surrey County Council, Children's Services Department, this is Lia Killian speaking. How may I help you?"

"Hello, I'm Arabella Figg," said the woman on the other line. "I'm calling about some concerns I have with a boy living two streets over from me. I occasionally baby-sit him whenever his relatives are out, and from what I've seen of him, he's at least being neglected, if not outright abused. I've spoken with another person about my concerns before. He's said that I'm probably mistaken, but he assures me that he's going to look into the matter, however, I haven't seen any change in things."

Mrs. Figg proceeded to explain about the Dursley family, and how the parents' treatment of their son, Dudley, differed greatly from their nephew, Harry. Apparently Dudley was quite spoiled, and allowed to get away with anything, which included bullying his cousin. Harry also looked quite skinny, maybe even starved, though that could have been because he was forced to wear his cousin's (rather large) hand-me-downs. At the very least, he certainly didn't get as much to eat as Dudley, especially as he always devoured the food Mrs. Figg gave him when she baby-sat him.

"Have you noticed anything else, Mrs. Figg?" Lia asked, taking notes on all this.

"I have seen bruises sometimes on Harry," the other woman answered. "But that could just be from his cousin bullying him. Not that it's any better than his aunt and uncle hitting him."

"I agree," said Lia, making another note. "At the very least it shows that they're not doing anything to stop their son from bullying him. So let's see, Dudley's being spoiled and allowed to get away with pretty much anything, while Harry's at the very least being bullied by his cousin, forced to wear his cousin's overly large hand-me-downs, and not given as much to eat. Anything else?"

"I have seen Harry doing gardening work and taking out the trash. I assume that's chores he's been assigned to. It isn't that bad, except I think he's been forced to do them since he was six or seven, and his cousin doesn't seem to have any chores at all. I mentioned this to some of the neighbors, but I don't think any of them took me seriously, since they see me as the batty old cat lady, because I happen to like cats and have several of them. I spoke with Mrs. Dursley about it the last time I had to baby-sit Harry, but she brushed it off and I have a feeling I just made things worse for him. "

"Oh dear," Lia murmured, writing down more notes. "Don't worry, Mrs. Figg, we are definitely going to look into it. Could I please get the address? And is the last name for Harry also Dursley?"

"No, it's Potter," replied Mrs. Figg. "And the address is Four Privet Drive, Little Whinging."

"Wait, _Harry Potter_?" demanded Lia, dropping her pen in shock. "What does he look like?"

"He's got black hair, it usually looks untidy, green eyes, and wears glasses. Oh, and he's got a scar on his forehead, shaped like a lightning-bolt. Why do you ask?"

Lia thought quickly and responded, "I was a guest speaker at an assembly the primary school in Little Whinging had a few days ago. I think one of the teachers mentioned this Harry Potter to me."

"Oh, I see," said Mrs. Figg. "Anyway, thank you for listening to me, Ms. Killian, and I hope you look into the matter with Harry as soon as possible. Good-bye."

"Good-bye," said Lia, and hung up. Of all the phone calls she had ever gotten about possible abused children, having one be about Harry Potter, famous in the wizarding world for defeating the Dark Lord Voldemort as a baby, to the point of being known as the 'Boy-Who-Lived', was unexpected. She had heard from the Weasleys that Harry had supposedly been sent to stay with Muggle relatives on his mother's side after his parents' death in the same attack from Voldemort, but had no idea that they were living in Surrey or that they would be horrible to him. Yet here they were, borderline abusive (at the very least) to their nephew, while spoiling their son at the same time.

Well, this was one case that Lia was definitely going to take, with no question of passing it on to any of her fellow social workers. If, or perhaps when, Harry needed to be removed from his relatives, she could see to it that he was placed properly. She would take him in herself, except her superiors might object to it, and she did have to work. Maybe she could see if her surrogate parents could take him in. They were certainly very loving, she could help out with his upkeep, and no doubt his parents had left him a Gringotts account to pay for his school supplies. Also, Ron was only a few months older than Harry and would make a good friend, and the rest of the Weasley siblings were also friendly and nice.

Lia carefully organized her notes into a proper file labeled 'HARRY POTTER', and then glanced at the clock. It was shortly after two o'clock, and since it was Saturday, the Dursleys would likely be home. After consulting a map so that she could find the route and notifying her co-workers that she was going out a case, she put on her coat and hat and set out for the Dursley home.

* * *

Harry Potter, aged nine, was outside shoveling the driveway, for it had snowed that morning, leaving the driveway covered in a few inches of snow. At least Dudley wasn't outside making the task harder for him, such as pelting him with snowballs or shoving him into the snow. Or pushing him down and stuffing snow down his pants and shirt, which Dudley and his gang had done yesterday. Aunt Petunia had scolded Harry for coming home with wet pants and shirt, and used that as an excuse to have him sleep in the cupboard under the stairs instead of what was supposed to be his proper bedroom.

Since the Dursleys wanted to appear normal, and Aunt Petunia had recalled having to draw a picture of her room in primary school, they had assigned the smallest bedroom as Harry's room. However, he rarely got to sleep in it, instead having to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs most of the time as punishment for supposed misdeeds, and the room (other than the bed, dresser, and desk) ended up holding Dudley's old and broken toys, plus the books he gotten but didn't care to read.

Harry didn't really mind having to sleep in the cupboard, since his cousin never bothered him when he was in there (only when he wasn't in it or was coming out), and his uncle rarely did either, since Uncle Vernon couldn't fit in the door without it being a tight squeeze. As for Aunt Petunia, she mostly just rapped on the door and screeched for him to get up in the mornings, and otherwise didn't go to Harry when he was in there unless Uncle Vernon was seeking to punish him for something.

Harry shuddered in remembrance, for such an occasion had happened last evening. He had been banished to the cupboard without dinner (Aunt Petunia had blamed him for Dudley tracking in snow) after the dishes had been washed, but was summoned out a few minutes later. His relatives always made a point of checking up on his work after he finished an assigned chore, so upon an inspection of the dishes he'd washed, apparently some of them hadn't been done to their satisfaction.

It had set Uncle Vernon off, who had roared for Harry to come out of the cupboard. Both he and Aunt Petunia had yelled at Harry for not washing the dishes properly, and after making him redo the dishes, Uncle Vernon had taken off his belt and beat Harry with it. Aunt Petunia had followed it up with a lecture about ungrateful brats who couldn't do anything right to repay their relatives for taking them in and giving them food, clothes to wear, and a roof over their heads. Uncle Vernon had used that lecture as an excuse to give Harry another beating, this time for being an 'ungrateful little freak', and then sent him back to the cupboard with the order that he was to get no meals on Saturday.

Harry's stomach rumbled in hunger at this point, for he had gotten little to eat yesterday. Dudley had stuffed himself at breakfast, leaving no leftovers for Harry to eat, and had stolen his lunch (which consisted of a sandwich and a banana) as well. The only thing he'd gotten to eat was when Mrs. Figg had passed by on her afternoon walk and slipped him a sandwich.

Speaking, or rather thinking, of Mrs. Figg, she was coming down the street for her daily walk. She frowned when she saw Harry outside, shoveling, but the frown quickly turned to a look of concern. He flinched and hoped that she wouldn't say anything to his relatives about his treatment again.

He knew that she meant well and were concerned that he wasn't well-treated, but it didn't change how he was treated. In fact, it only made things worse, for when Mrs. Figg spoke to Aunt Petunia about Dudley's bullying, Harry had been punished with two weeks in the cupboard, only let out for school and to use the bathroom, and Uncle Vernon had beaten him every day for that time.

A dark grey car turned onto Privet Drive, but Harry paid little attention to it until he saw it park on the side of the street in front of the Dursley home. A young woman with dark blonde hair peeking out under a dark blue hat and in a matching wool coat got out the car. After a second, he recognized her as the woman from the Child Services Department of the Surrey County Council that had spoken at the school assembly on Tuesday. Ms. Killian had warned the students about adults that might touch you in inappropriate ways or be mean to you (such as hitting you or not giving you enough to eat) and strangers that could try to lure you away with things like money and sweets. If anything like this were to happen, you were to try to get away and tell a grown-up you could trust about it.

Harry had left the assembly wishing that Ms. Killian's words applied to him. Well, no stranger had ever tried to kidnap him, nor had anyone ever touched him in uncomfortable ways, but his aunt and uncle certainly hit him and didn't feed him properly. However, there was no way he could find a so-called trusted adult and tell them about it. Assuming they believed him (which considering his relatives had painted him as a liar and attention-seeking brat was doubtful), his relatives would find some way of glossing the whole thing over and then punish him for telling tales.

Mrs. Figg walked over and exchanged a few words with Ms. Killian, then the latter turned and walked over to Harry. "Hello, Harry," she said kindly. "Do you remember me from the assembly?"

He paused in his shoveling to nod. "You're Ms. Killian. Hello."

Ms. Killian looked him over. He was dressed in a shabby bright green coat that was several sizes too large for him, with the sleeves pushed up so that his hands (which were in holey mittens) weren't covered up, baggy trousers, and snow-caked trainers. He didn't have a hat, only the hood of the coat.

"Harry, could I talk to you for a few minutes?" she asked. "It's very important."

"I'm s'posed to be shoveling the driveway," Harry replied, pushing up his glasses, which had Sellotape on the bridge. "Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia won't like it if I take too long and I'll get in trouble."

"You can still shovel while we talk," Ms. Killian said. "Here, I'll even help you." She walked over to her car and opened the door. He thought he saw a flash of light, but before he could question it, he saw her tuck a stick into her pocket and return with a snow shovel of her own.

"Good thing I have a shovel with me in case my car ever gets snowed in a parking lot," she said with a smile. "Is your aunt and uncle or your cousin going to come out while we talk?"

Harry shook his head. "Uncle Vernon went to take a nap after he told me to shovel the snow. Dudley's watching a show on the telly and Aunt Petunia's baking him biscuits."

Ms. Killian began shoveling snow next to Harry and said, "Mrs. Figg called my office earlier this afternoon. She told me that she thinks your relatives are mean to you. At the very least, they're not stopping your cousin from bullying you, and are spoiling him while they force you to wear his old clothes, do all sorts of chores, and not feed you as much as they do him."

Harry paled. This was worse than Mrs. Figg speaking to the Dursleys about his treatment! Now Ms. Killian was going to be all sorts of questions about his home life, and talk to his relatives about treating him better. They'd either gloss things over and make her think this was a misunderstanding, or they'd pretend that they were just a bit strict with him and promise to be nicer. In either case, it would be a lie, and once she was gone, they'd punish him severely. It'd be even worse than what he'd gotten when Mrs. Figg had questioned his treatment.

"Nothing's wrong!" Harry blurted in a panic. "My aunt and uncle aren't mean to me! They only punish me when I'm bad! You don't need to talk to them at all! Mrs. Figg made a mistake."

Ms. Killian sighed. "Calm down, Harry. I'm here to help you, and to make sure that your relatives can never hurt you again if they are abusing you. I can take you away from them and you'll never have to see them again if you don't want to. You just have to trust me and tell me the truth."

Harry shook his head violently. "I'm fine! There's nothing you can do!"

"Oh Harry," said Ms. Killian. "Look, let me tell you something about me. When I was a little girl I lived with parents that weren't very nice. They wanted me to be just like them, and if I wasn't as perfect as they wanted, they would spank me or send me to bed without dinner. Then one day this teacher from a special school came. It was the same school your parents went to, in fact. The teacher, Professor McGonagall, explained that I had special abilities and so was invited to attend this school. My parents didn't think my abilities were all that special, in fact they said it was evil and that I was cursed by the Devil. They didn't want me to go to the school at all and said they were going to 'beat the evilness' out of me. Professor McGonagall stopped them, and luckily my grandparents came by for a visit and took me away to live with them. I was able to go to the school and I didn't have to see my parents ever again if I didn't want to. I even got a new family when my grandparents died. When I graduated from school, I decided that I wanted to help other children that also didn't have nice families."

Harry digested this. He had no idea how Ms. Killian knew that what school his parents had gone to, but everything else she said sounded like the truth, that she understood something of his life. That still didn't meant she could help him, though. Just because she wanted to help children with bad home lives didn't mean she couldn't be tricked into thinking things were fine for him. "I-" he stammered.

Ms. Killian must have sensed what was bothering him, for she continued, "Nothing your relatives say will change my mind. They can claim that you're lying or trying to get attention with wild stories, or that they only punish you a bit when you're bad, or that your cousin isn't bullying you, that he's just a bit rowdy and it's only typical boyish roughhousing. None of that will stop me from making them see that they are abusing you and taking you away from them to someplace safe, okay? It didn't work with Mrs. Figg, did it? She still called the office and told me that she was afraid you were being abused, no matter what your aunt and uncle said to try to smooth things over."

Harry tossed a shovelful of snow onto the yard, then said quietly, "If any of my chores aren't done perfectly, Uncle Vernon hits me with his belt, and he and Aunt Petunia yell at me for it. They also send me to bed without dinner lots of times. Sometimes I don't get breakfast either, 'cause Dudley eats all the food and doesn't leave any left for me. If Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia are really mad at me, they'll yell at me for being ungrateful brat that doesn't do anything to repay them for taking me in and give me extra chores and no meals for a day. And Uncle Vernon hits me for that too."

"What they're doing is wrong, Harry," said Ms. Killian. "No child should ever be treated like that. Even my parents were never that terrible to me. Here, let's finish up this bit that's left, and then I'm going to speak to your aunt and uncle. I need to question them and make them see that their treatment of you is wrong, and then we'll gather your things and I will take you away from them."

Harry nodded, hope blossoming in his heart. He had never thought that he would ever escape from his awful relatives and had long since given up dreaming of someone coming along and rescuing him. He had resigned himself to being his cousin's punching bag and his aunt and uncle's ill-treated and unpaid servant for the rest of his life, or until he turned of age, anyway.

A couple of minutes later, the driveway had been completely shoveled. Ms. Killian went back to her car to put away her shovel and grab the file she had made of Harry, while he put his shovel in the garage.

When he entered the kitchen, Aunt Petunia looked up from putting a tray of biscuits in the oven. "At least you got the driveway done quickly. Watch where you step! I don't want you tracking in snow all over my clean floor. Go see if Dudley needs-" She broke off when she saw Ms. Killian walk in to stand behind Harry. "You didn't tell me that there was a visitor! Hello, may I ask who you are?"

"I'm Cornelia Killian," replied Ms. Killian. "I'm from the Child Services Department. Your neighbor, Mrs. Figg, called me about her concerns for Harry here. I've spoken with him while he was shoveling the driveway, and what I've heard makes it clear that Mrs. Figg is right to be concerned."

"Has the boy been telling stories again?" Aunt Petunia demanded, a flicker of anger appearing on her face to be quickly replaced by a look of simple annoyance. "My nephew is something of a pathological liar and likes to tell wild stories in an attempt to gain attention. I wouldn't listen to what he says."

Ms. Killian frowned. "Don't try to convince me that Harry is some kind of attention-seeking person or a liar. I've had other parents and guardians that were abusive try to claim the same thing. The point is I am here to do an investigation to confirm what Mrs. Figg and Harry told me. I saw and heard you snap at your nephew just now." She made a note, then continued, "Could I see Harry's room?"

Aunt Petunia made a face, but led the social worker upstairs, pausing first at the master bedroom to wake up her husband. Uncle Vernon was not pleased to be woken up, and was even more disgruntled to find out that there was a social worker investigating their treatment of their nephew. He, like his wife, tried to claim that Harry was lying or trying to get attention, but again, Ms. Killian didn't believe this, and just asked again to see Harry's bedroom.

They passed the guest room and Dudley's bedroom (which had a telly and many toys, some quite expensive, scattered around), before stopping at a room at the end of the hall. It was the smallest of the four bedrooms, and had a plain bed, nightstand, desk and chair, a bookcase full of untouched books, a closet, and shelves full of what appeared to broken or discarded toys. The bed didn't look as if it was ever slept in, and the toys were likely old ones discarded from Dudley.

"This is Harry's room," Ms. Killian skeptically stated with a raised brow.

"Yes, that's the room that we designated as his," Uncle Vernon snapped. "Is there a problem?"

"It doesn't look as if Harry has spent much time in here, if at all, for one thing. For another, it appears that it's more of a place to put all the discarded toys that your son didn't want. And don't try to claim that those toys are Harry's and that he broke them. I'm not going to believe you."

Uncle Vernon's face turned an ugly shade of purple, while Aunt Petunia, who had turned red, hissed, "Even if those toys are my Dudder's old toys, that room is still Harry's!"

Ms. Killian sighed and turned to Harry. "Is this your room, Harry?" He nodded, causing his aunt to let out a triumphant, "I told you!", but Ms. Killian continued, "Do you sleep in here?"

Harry shook his head. "Most of the time I have to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs 'cause Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon say I've been bad. Sometimes I get locked in there for a few days."

"I see," said Ms. Killian, keeping a firm grip on her temper. "Could you show me the cupboard?" Harry nodded and led her downstairs to the cupboard. He opened the door to reveal a thin mattress with a threadbare blanket folded on it and some shelves with cleaning supplies and his few belongings. Ms. Killian took a camera out of her purse and took a few pictures of the cupboard and its interior.

"What do you think you're doing?" Uncle Vernon snarled furiously.

"Getting evidence and documenting things," she responded coldly, glaring at him and his wife. "I can see that you two, for appearance's sake, assigned a bedroom to your nephew, so he could truthfully say that he has his own room, but in reality have him sleep in a closet under the guise of punishment. I am disgusted with your behavior. Why are you raising your nephew in the first place?" Of course, she knew the answer already, but wanted to see what the Dursleys would say.

"My blasted sister and her husband, no doubt driving drunk, got themselves killed in a car accident," snapped Aunt Petunia. "My husband and I took the boy in out the kindness of our hearts."

"Is this what your relatives told you, Harry?" Harry nodded and Ms. Killian turned back to them. "So you couldn't even be bothered to tell Harry the truth about how his parents died. I suppose you didn't even bother to tell him about his heritage or explain about his special abilities." Seeing Harry's puzzled look, Ms. Killian explained, "It's a rather complicated story, but the short answer, Harry, is that a really evil person killed your parents. He tried to kill you too, but failed, and was defeated. I don't know why you weren't told the truth, but it sounds like your aunt didn't like your mother."

As Harry digested this, Aunt Petunia made a sputtering noise and her face was as white as snow.

"How do you know this?" she demanded. "You're just a social worker! Unless- you're one of _them_!"

"If you mean that I have the same abilities as your sister, yes I am," answered Ms. Killian. "Like her, I was the first person in my family to have them, and attended the same school she did. I just chose to work as a social worker after graduation so I could help children with bad home lives."

Aunt Petunia made another sputtering noise. "So you're just a _freak_ like my dratted sister and her husband! Get out of my house! Your lot were the ones to dump Harry with us even though we didn't want him, and now that we're stuck with him, we'll raise him however we like!"

"I am not a freak," Ms. Killian said firmly. "My abilities are a gift from God, and my grandfather, who was a vicar before he retired, and my grandmother agreed with me. It sounds like you are a narrow-minded person like my parents are, or you were jealous of your sister and turned it to hate."

"I was _not_ jealous!" Aunt Petunia spat. "I, unlike my parents, merely was able to see my sister for the freak she was, and refused to have anything to do with her. It's not my fault if she and that Potter she married got themselves blown up and their _abnormal_ son got foisted on us!"

"We took him in even though we didn't want him in the first place!" Uncle Vernon added angrily. "As soon as we set eyes on the boy we swore that we would stamp that rubbish out of him!"

"You can't stamp his powers out of him!" Ms. Killian retorted impatiently. "You're either born with it or not, and will always have it! The only thing you would achieve, if you had abused him to the point of being irreparably damaged psychologically, is his losing all control so that he couldn't attend Hogwarts or function in our society and have his powers breaking out randomly! Would you rather have that?"

At this point, Dudley came out of the living room to see what the shouting was about. "What's going on, Mum and Dad?" he asked, looking very confused.

"A social worker came by to see how Harry is being treated," answered Aunt Petunia.

"Oh," said Dudley, and was about to go back to the living room, but Ms. Killian spoke before he could.

"The treatment of your son isn't much better!" she snapped. "You might not be abusing him, but your indulging him in everything has turned him into an overweight spoiled brat who thinks it's okay to go around bullying people! If he keeps up like this with no proper discipline from you, you'll end up with a juvenile delinquent or have him depend on you for the rest of his life because he can't live on his own!"

Both Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon sputtered, while Dudley started at the social worker, looking even more confused. "What are you talking about?" he asked stupidly.

"Your parents are letting you eat whatever you want and having your way in everything, correct?" Dudley nodded, and Ms. Killian continued, "That isn't good for you. You are becoming a bully, and you have gotten your group of friends to be the same. Also, you're becoming very fat, which isn't healthy, and people don't like you and are afraid of you because of how you're acting."

As he considered this, she turned to his parents. "I have seen enough, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. Harry is clearly being abused, so I am removing him from this place. You are not going to stop me. I will have you brought up on charges of child abuse, and your son will be placed with relatives or a foster home."

Aunt Petunia made a choking noise, while Uncle Vernon snarled, "You can't do this! I'll tell your office that you're a freak and you used your freaky powers to make all this happen!"

Ms. Killian gave him a disdainful look. "Do you really think people will believe you if you say that I can do magic? They'll think you're a raving lunatic. Now, if you don't want me turning you into the foul cockroaches you are, I suggest you shut up and face the consequences of your actions. Harry, if you would please gather up your belongings and then we'll go."

Harry nodded and moved to step inside the cupboard. Uncle Vernon snarled and thrust out an arm, grabbing his nephew roughly, but a second later, Ms. Killian had pulled out a stick from her pocket and blasted the large man backwards. "I warned you, Mr. Dursley," she hissed, her green eyes flashing with anger. "I told you to not interfere. Harry is coming with me and will never see you again unless he wants to. Now get away before I lose my temper and do more than pushing you back."

"You can't take him!" he snapped back. "That headmaster of the freak school of yours left him with us and the letter said to keep him! He even gave us a couple hundred pounds a month to do so!"

" _Excuse me_?" Ms. Killian exclaimed. "Professor Dumbledore has been giving you money to keep Harry, and you've been half-starving him and forcing him to wear his cousin's hand-me-downs? What have you been doing with the money, spending it all on your son? You are the most awful excuse for human beings I have ever met, and you deserve to burn in Hell. I hope God can forgive you for all the terrible things you've done, because I certainly can't. Harry, grab your things and let's go."

Harry stuffed his few belongings, mostly clothes and his school things, in his backpack and a paper sack. Ms. Killian, her stick still pointed at the Dursleys, took Harry's hand with her free one, and the two walked out the door. Once they were safely in her car and driving away, she spoke.

"I know you have some questions about what just happened, so I'll explain the best I can, Harry. I know your relatives likely told you otherwise, but magic is real. I am a witch and can do magic, just as your parents also could and were a witch and wizard. You were born with the ability to do magic too, and are a wizard, though you'll have to wait until you're eleven to attend Hogwarts, which is the magic school in Britain, to learn how to properly cast spells and such."

Harry thought it over for a minute. "So magic is real and I'm a wizard. Is that what the strange stuff I did was? And why Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon got mad over it and punished me?"

Ms. Killian nodded. "What magic things have you done?"

"I once made my hair grow back after Aunt Petunia cut it all off," Harry replied. "She was tired of it being messy and looking the same no matter how many haircuts I had. I got beaten by Uncle Vernon and shut up in the cupboard for a week, except for school. Oh, and Dudley and his group were chasing me last month, and I meant to jump behind the dustbins to hide from them, but I somehow ended up on the school's kitchen roof instead. I got two weeks in the cupboard for that, and beaten every day."

She winced at this, then continued, "Well, what your aunt and uncle did to you was wrong. You were born a wizard, and shouldn't be punished for accidental magic. All children have that happen until they start Hogwarts and learn how to master their magic. I promise you, Harry, you will never have to see them again, except maybe in court when they're on trial for abusing you and you have to testify, that is explain to the court, what happened to you. Were you punished this week for anything?"

Harry nodded. "I had to sleep in the cupboard this week 'cause I kept coming home with wet clothes from Dudley and his friends pushing me in the snow and stuff. Aunt Petunia wouldn't let me have dinner last night 'cause she blamed me for Dudley tracking in snow. Uncle Vernon hit me Tuesday 'cause he said I didn't shovel the driveway fast enough, and hit me again last night 'cause the dishes weren't clean enough. When Aunt Petunia said I was 'an ungrateful brat who can't do anything right to repay them for taking me in', he beat me again and told me I couldn't eat today."

Ms. Killian frowned, but all she said was, "Well then, I bet you're hungry, so I'm going to take you to my house and get you some food to eat, all right?"

Harry nodded, and she spent the rest of the drive explaining more about the wizarding world, as well as a more protracted explanation of the circumstances of his parents' deaths.

"So my parents were fighting an evil wizard and his followers that didn't like, um, Muggles and those born to Muggle families," Harry said slowly. "This Vol-Voldemort killed them, and tried to kill me, but failed. I'm famous in the wizarding world because it looks like I defeated him. But why?"

"Why you're famous or why you defeated Voldemort? To the first, Voldemort was very evil, and had many people scared. The good guys were fighting him and his followers, but it was very possible that they could lose. When he was defeated, everyone, the good guys anyway, were really happy because it meant that they no longer had to be scared and be on guard. I was a second-year at Hogwarts when it happened, so I remember how we were all celebrating it. To the second question, nobody's really sure as to how you were able to defeat him. I spoke with Professor McGonagall, the teacher that gave me my acceptance letter, and we think that maybe your mother's sacrifice gave you some sort of magical protection, or you subconsciously created some of your own."

Harry remained silent for the last few minutes of the drive as he digested this. Ms. Killian turned into the driveway of a dark blue and white house that was somewhat smaller than the Dursley home. She had inherited it from her grandparents, which was the main reason why she was working in Surrey.

Once inside, she showed him where the hall closet was so he could hang up his coat, and then they went to the kitchen, where she proceeded to make two sandwiches and poured out a glass of milk. So that Harry wouldn't feel awkward about being the only one eating, she grabbed an apple for herself.

When he was done eating, he would have washed the plate and cup he used, but Ms. Killian stopped him and gave him a demonstration of magic instead by pointing her wand and saying, " _Scourgify_." In a flash the plate and cup were sparkling clean, and she demonstrated another spell by levitating them into the cabinet she kept her dishes in. Harry was awed by the use of magic.

"Wow, will I be able to that?" he asked, then flinched when he realized that he'd asked a question. The Dursleys hadn't wanted him to ask questions at all, and his aunt had slapped him the few times he did. Then he remembered that he'd asked a few questions during the car ride and nothing happened other than Ms. Killian answering them, so he tried to relax a bit.

"After you have some lessons first, Harry," she said with a smile. "I can have you look through some of my old schoolbooks later and go over the theory with you, and perhaps teach you a couple of easy spells. But you'll learn most of it once you start Hogwarts. Now, I'm sorry that I have to do this, but I have to document the abuse you went through and gather evidence. You said during the car ride that your uncle hit you with his belt last night. So would you please let me have a look?"

Harry hesitated for a few seconds, then slowly took of the overlarge and ugly jumper he was wearing and lifted up the shirt he was wearing underneath. Ms. Killian said nothing as she took in the welts that crisscrossed his back, but her lips thinned. She took out her camera and took pictures of it, then told him that he could lower his shirt and made some more notes for the file.

When she was done, she said, "Why don't you come with me to the bathroom and I'll put some salve on your back and get you healed up a bit. Then I'll get you settled in a room and you can shower."

"Aunt Petunia would only let me take ten minutes to shower," Harry said. "And I couldn't use the hot water. I had to use different soap and shampoo from my relatives, and they only got new ones for me every four months. I got yelled at once for using up the shampoo in three months, and made to do extra chores to pay Aunt Petunia for having to go out and buy more for me."

Ms. Killian grimaced at this and had to silently remind herself that at least Harry had been able to shower on his own and hadn't been forced into scalding hot or ice cold baths as further torment. "Well, you can take as long as you want to shower here," she said. "And use all the hot water you want. Could you please take off your shirt so I can put on the salve, Harry?" As he did so, she took out the jar of salve from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, then gently smeared some over his back. Despite her gentleness, he still flinched and had to bite his lip to keep from hissing or whimpering in pain.

"I'm sorry about the pain," Ms. Killian apologized, putting the jar back in the cabinet. She finished by taking out her wand and doing a spell that would speed up the healing.

Once Harry put his shirt back on, she grabbed his backpack and paper sack and led him upstairs. "You can stay in my old bedroom for the time being," she said, walking past the master bedroom (which had once been her grandparents' and which was now hers), a bathroom, and the guest room. She opened the door opposite the guest room, revealing a bedroom, decorated in shades of pink, violet, and lavender, which was a little bigger than the one assigned to him at the Dursleys. "I know the color scheme is rather girly, but that's easily fixed. Here."

She waved her wand around the room, saying a spell at the same time, and the wallpaper, bedspread, and pillows became a dark blue that was the color of the night sky with forest green and silver trim. As Harry looked around at the color change in awe, Ms. Killian went over to the closet. It was empty, since she'd removed all her old clothes shortly after her Hogwarts graduation and donated them. She placed his belongings in the closet, then went out to the hall closet and got a sheet and pillowcase. These she transfigured into clothes and underthings for Harry.

"Here," she said, coming back into the room, "take these and go to the bathroom to shower. I'll take you shopping for some new clothes tomorrow, but these will do for now. I suggest you use the white bar of soap, since the pink one's the one I use and I doubt you'll want to smell of roses. You can use one of the towels on the shelf to dry yourself with when you're done. I have some calls to make now."


	2. Chapter 2

Lia went downstairs to the kitchen, where she first made a phone call to work to let them know she was working on a case and wouldn't be returning to the office that day. After that, she went to the living room, where she magically lit a fire in the fireplace and made a Floo-call. "Professor McGonagall's office, Hogwarts." As it happened to be the day that the school let out for the Christmas holidays, Professor McGonagall wasn't busy with school matters and responded immediately.

"Lia, this is a pleasant surprise," she said, kneeling in front of her fireplace. "How have you been?"

"I'm fine, but there is something I need to discuss with you, Professor. Would you mind Flooing over now? It's important, and I don't want to risk being overheard, since the Floo Network is monitored."

"Of course, Lia," Professor McGonagall said. "And I've told you to call me Minerva. I'm no longer your teacher, and we are working together now."

"Old habits die hard," said Lia. "And I've told _you_ that I'm not used to calling those that are of older generations than me by their first name. My grandparents didn't raise me that way." She withdrew her head from the fire and moved aside so that Professor McGonagall had room when she arrived.

Once the older woman stepped out the fireplace, she brushed soot off her robes and then joined Lia on the sofa. "What is it that you wanted to discuss with me, Lia?"

Lia explained about the phone call she had gotten earlier that afternoon. "You can imagine my shock when Mrs. Figg told me that the boy was Harry Potter, and the description she gave matched the one in the books that talk about You-Know-Who's defeat. I immediately went out to the Dursley home to investigate, and what I discovered was worse than what Mrs. Figg surmised."

"Wait, _Arabella_ _Figg_ was the one that called you?" Professor McGonagall exclaimed. Lia nodded and the professor explained, "Mrs. Figg is a Squib that Albus had move to a house near the Dursleys so she could keep an eye on Harry. Why didn't she say anything before?"

Lia replied, "Actually, Mrs. Figg told me she did tell someone, which probably is Professor Dumbledore, about Harry's treatment, but despite assurances that it would be looked into, it never was. At least nothing changed in how he was treated. And apparently she wasn't taken seriously. Not by Professor Dumbledore or whomever she reported to, or by the neighbors, who see her as the 'batty old cat lady'." She then repeated everything Harry had told her about his treatment.

Professor McGonagall looked horrified. "How in Merlin's name did the poor child survive?"

"I suppose because the Dursleys weren't beating him bloody or starving him to death," answered Lia. "Otherwise I don't think he would have survived, unless his magic manifested to protect him. Anyway, his relatives haven't told him anything about his parents or his heritage either!"

"So Harry doesn't know he's a wizard or how his parents died or anything like that?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Dursley told Harry that his parents died in a car crash, and made it sound like it was because they were driving drunk! I had to explain the wizarding world and Hogwarts and how his parents had been killed by You-Know-Who. That's not even the end of it."

"Oh, I thought the Dursleys were awful people, but I didn't think they'd turn out to be like this!" cried Professor McGonagall, tears welling in her eyes. "I told Albus that I didn't think they were the best people to raise him, but he insisted it was best to keep Harry away from the fame, so I gave in. If I had any idea that he was going to be abused, I would have stopped him from being left there."

"You didn't know, Professor," said Lia gently, her green eyes sad. "Oh, and speaking of Professor Dumbledore, apparently he's been giving the Dursleys money for Harry's care."

"Wait, _what_?" demanded Professor McGonagall. "They've been getting money to raise Harry?"

Lia nodded. "When Mr. Dursley tried to stop Harry leaving with me, he said something about a letter saying to keep Harry and that they were getting a couple hundred pounds a month for it. That's about forty Galleons a month, I think? Anyway, the Dursleys acted like they weren't in the wrong at all. They said some rubbish about taking Harry in out of the kindness of their hearts when they didn't want him in the first place. Also, it seems the main reason they acted the way they did was in an attempt to stamp the magic out of him! Harry's lucky that they didn't irreparably damage him psychologically!"

Professor McGonagall flinched, face going even paler. "Thank Merlin for that, at least. So where is Harry now, and what are your plans for dealing with this?"

"He's upstairs showering right now," Lia responded. "He's staying with me for the time being. As for the Dursleys, I'm having them brought up on charges of child abuse. The way they've treated their son isn't much better. They might not have abused Dudley, but they've spoiled him to the point that he's overweight and thinks that he can get away with anything. If this keeps up, he could end up a juvenile delinquent, or at least dependent on his parents for the rest of his life."

Professor McGonagall made a face. "Well, do you have any ideas of where Harry will live in the long term? You do have to work, Lia, or I suspect you would take him in permanently."

"I have some plans on that front. First off, for the wizarding world, I would like to have my foster family take part in Harry's upbringing, if they're willing. Ron is Harry's age, and being part of a loving family can help Harry heal. For the Muggle world, since this is being done here, I thought perhaps the Grangers could become his foster family. You know I spoke to them three months ago about their daughter, who is going to be in Harry's year, about being a witch. When I explained why I was doing this and told them I was a social worker, they offered to take in any wizarding child whose parents or guardians rejected them like mine did. They've got certification to become foster parents, so I can send Harry to live with them without any objections from Social Services. In fact, if both families are willing, I can set things up so that the Grangers are his guardians in the Muggle world and the Weasleys and I are his guardians in the wizarding world. I'll see if Harry agrees to it."

"That's a good plan," said Professor McGonagall, thinking it over. "Molly and Arthur would be loving parents to him, and what you've told me about the Grangers show that they're good parents too. If you need any help with this, please let me know and I'll do what I can. Oh, I am going to be giving Albus a piece of my mind when I return to Hogwarts! How he could be so-"

"Actually, could you not mention any of this to Professor Dumbledore just yet?" Lia asked. "There could be another reason he placed Harry with his relatives, besides having him grow up away from all the fame, and he _did_ pay the Dursleys to keep Harry. Not to mention the fact he didn't listen to Mrs. Figg's concerns at all. Dumbledore could decide that his reasons are more important than Harry being abused by them, and send him back to them. Even if he somehow forced them to treat Harry decently, I promised him that he would never have to go back to them."

"Oh, you're right," said Professor McGonagall, looking alarmed. "Albus did mention something about wards and that Harry would be protected so long as he lived with his aunt once. Obviously the wards were for magical protection, since they didn't protect him from his relatives, but Albus could insist that Harry needs to stay at the Dursleys because of that, for the 'Greater Good'."

Lia snorted. "Well, unless You-Know-Who somehow comes back, or his followers that escaped arrest decide to set themselves up in his place, I don't think Harry's in any magical danger. And in any case, to be on the safe side, both Bill and I can set up wards. I got 'Outstanding' on my Ancient Runes and Defense O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, and Bill just finished training to be a curse breaker for Gringotts."

"I can help with that too," Professor McGonagall offered. "Well, don't worry Lia; I won't say a word to anyone who's not in the know about what's going on with Harry until he or you say otherwise. Let me know if you need anything else, or if you would like me to talk with Harry. I can certainly tell him a few things about his parents' time at Hogwarts."

"That would be wonderful, Professor," said Lia warmly. "Speaking of that, are there any of the Potters' friends around that can be trusted to be let in on the situation and help with Harry's healing? I know Sirius Black is in Azkaban for betraying the Potters and killing all those people, and Peter Pettigrew was one of them, but the Potters must have had other friends that are still around."

"There is Remus Lupin," answered Professor McGonagall. "That's the only one of James's friends that is still alive and trustworthy. Lily's friends were killed in the war, other than Alice Longbottom."

"And she's in St. Mungo's with her husband due to permanent brain damage," stated Lia, "if I recall the reports I read on the war against You-Know-Who correctly. I guess Remus Lupin is the only one of the Potters' friends that I can contact about Harry's situation."

Professor McGonagall nodded. "I would have included Severus Snape, yes, your former Potions teacher, as one of Lily's friends, but they had a falling out towards the end of their fifth-year. I don't think Severus really got over it and still cared for Lily, but I doubt he'd be willing to have anything to do with Harry. Unfortunately, Severus didn't get along with James, in fact there was some bullying going on from the latter, though the former did start some of the altercations they had. Since Harry seems to have inherited his father's looks, except for his eyes, which are Lily's, I think Severus would see more of James in him and resent the boy."

"I see," said Lia. "Well, it's not necessary that Professor Snape has anything to do with Harry until he starts Hogwarts anyway. I think Harry's done showering now, so I'll bid you a good day, Professor."

"That's true. I'll go see Arabella Figg and ask her to keep what she's done and everything that happened a secret from Albus. You can speak to her about being a witness in the case against the Dursleys and get further testimony from her later. Good-day, Lia." With that, Professor McGonagall got up from the couch and Apparated to Mrs. Figg's home.

Lia sighed and went to the kitchen, where with the help of magic, she quickly cut up some vegetables and a lump of beef for a stew to have for dinner. Once the pot was on the stove, cooking, she went upstairs, where, as she expected, Harry had finished his shower and gotten dressed. "I'm making a pot of beef stew for dinner, Harry," she said. "Is that fine with you?"

Harry nodded and Lia continued, "Could you come down to the kitchen with me? I need to ask you a few more questions about your life at the Dursleys for my notes on this case. Also, I would like to discuss with you about where you're going to live now, since you can't stay with your relatives."

"Can't I live with you, Ms. Killian?" Harry asked. "You're nice, and I like it here."

"I wish you could, Harry, but there are rules about what social workers can do," replied Ms. Killian. "I can take children away from abusive homes and have them stay with me for a few days, but I can't have them live with permanently. I'm not certified to be a foster parent, and I can't become certified because I'm not married and my work would limit how much time I can spend raising a child. However, I can make sure that you are placed with a foster family that will be nice to you and treat you like one of their own. Also, I can get myself named as your guardian in the wizarding world, so I can take care of you during the holidays once you start Hogwarts and handle anything pertaining to that."  
"I guess that's fine," said Harry after a moment of thought. The two sat down at the kitchen table and he answered all of Lia's questions about his life with the Dursleys, explaining every incident he could remember where he was punished in some way or his cousin bullied him. She took copious notes on it all, except for the times Harry was punished for accidental magic, since that would raise questions in a Muggle court and quite possibly end up breaking the International Statute of Secrecy.

After a break for Harry to have a cup of juice and Lia to add salt and pepper to the stew and give it a few stirs, she told him about the Grangers and their daughter Hermione. "They're very nice people, and became certified to be foster parents so that they could take in any magical children I found that were being abused. Hermione is ten months older than you, but she's going to be starting Hogwarts at the same time as you. She's been teased at school for being very smart and a bookworm, so she has some idea of what it's like to be bullied. I can have you meet them so you can decide for yourself if you want them to be your foster family, all right?"

Harry thought it over for a minute, then said, "Okay, I'll meet the Grangers."

Then, as Monday was Christmas and Lia was spending it at the Weasleys, she explained about her foster family and having them help him (and possibly Hermione) acclimate to the wizarding world. "Ron is your age and very nice, and has said that he wanted to have people to play with besides his brothers and younger sister. The others are nice too, though Fred and George do like pranks."

"Pranks?" asked Harry, a worried look coming to his face. "They're not like Dudley and his friends?"

"No, no, they aren't bullies at all," Lia hastened to assure him. "If they even tried to bully someone, Mum, that is Mrs. Weasley, would scold them for it and then probably punish them with an extra chore or no dessert at dinner or something similar. The twins play harmless pranks that will get a laugh out of others, unless they've got no sense of humor at all, or on people that deserve to be pranked. Well, since you're not used to magic yet, it might take you a bit to adjust to their humor."

She silently thanked God that this Christmas would only have the immediate family present, since being exposed to someone like Aunt Muriel would be a disaster for Harry. Not only was Aunt Muriel the type to use her advanced age to say and do whatever she liked, but there was absolutely no way that she would keep Harry's situation a secret. Thankfully Fred and George had set off a Dungbomb under her chair last Christmas, which prompted her to storm out shortly after dinner and swear that she would never visit again for Christmas.

After a dinner of beef stew and bread, Lia sent Harry upstairs with a book about the wizarding world for him to read, and contacted her three best friends (besides Bill). Eleanor Vicks, or Ellie for short, was a halfblood witch who had finished Healer's training four months ago and worked in the Spell Damage section of St. Mungo's Hospital. Eric, Ellie's twin brother, was a barrister that argued cases in court and helped with the drafting of wizarding laws. He and Lia had dated briefly in sixth-year, but mutually ended things when they realized that they felt more like brother and sister and would be better off as just friends. Tristan Fawley, who was dating Ellie, was a pureblood wizard that was working in the Wizarding Services Office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. After being sworn to secrecy, Lia told Ellie, Eric, and Tristan about Harry's situation and rescue.

"He _what_?" Ellie exclaimed, her blue eyes flashing with anger. "Oh, if I could get my hands on his relatives…I'm so glad that you got a call about Harry Potter and rescued him, Lia."

Tristan ran a hand through his auburn hair in agitation. "Poor Harry. I never thought that he would be abused by his relatives. I suppose you'll want our help, since you've told us about this, Lia. I will be happy to do whatever I can, and will even use my family's connections if necessary."

"I too," said Ellie, tugging on her braid of black hair in order to calm herself down. "Well, Eric and I don't really have family connections, but I can at least give Harry a check-up and some healing."

"And I will be happy to help you build up a case against the Dursleys for child abuse," added Eric.

"Thank you, guys," Lia said gratefully. "If you aren't busy tomorrow, would you come by in the afternoon and check up on Harry, Ellie? I would say now, but he's still adjusting to being rescued and finding out about the wizarding world. Tristan and Eric, I would like you to help me file paperwork naming me as Harry's guardian in the wizarding world. Since you two work in the Ministry, could you also do some discreet research on why he was left with his relatives, since I doubt his parents had planned for him to live with them, and if they had named anyone to be his guardians. Well, other than Sirius Black, of course. I presume the Potters had planned for Black to be main guardian, as he was named godfather, but they must have had contingency choices in case Black couldn't take over."

The three friends agreed. "Honestly, I don't know what Professor Dumbledore was thinking when he left Harry Potter with his Muggle relatives," Tristan said. "I understand not wanting him to be exposed to his fame, but he still could have been left with a much nicer family."

Eric's dark brown hair flopped in his face as he nodded. "That Granger family you told us about, Lia, would have been a good choice if Harry _had_ to grow up in the Muggle world in order to keep him from the fame. Or a wizarding family could have been found, like the Weasleys, or my and Ellie's family, that would be willing to raise him away from the fame and everything."

"Well, it's not like Professor Dumbledore could have known that the Dursleys would be abusive to their nephew," Lia said, though she privately had some doubts. "And Professor McGonagall told me that he mentioned wards once and how Harry would be protected so long as he lived with his aunt."

Ellie snorted. "Well, those wards didn't protect poor Harry from his relatives. What if he'd died or was brain-damaged as a result of abuse? Fat lot of good those wards would have done then."

Tristan's grey eyes turned as hard as flint. "If it weren't imperative to keep Harry's situation a secret, I'd be strongly tempted to hunt down the Dursleys and hex them for what they did."

"I agree with you," said Eric, his blue eyes like ice. "But they're not worth going to Azkaban over. We'll just look into Harry Potter's situation and help Lia build up her case against the Dursleys."

"Between the four of us, we should be able to fix this," said Lia. "We were in all four houses, after all. So with Tristan's strength, Eric's cunning, Ellie's brains, and my courage, we can make the Dursleys legally pay for what they did and find out exactly why Harry was left with them and not someone else."

Tristan, Eric, and Ellie nodded. Eric magically made a copy of Lia's file on Harry Potter so that he could help with building the case against the Dursleys, and then the three left.

After that, Lia went upstairs to tell Harry about her friends helping her, and explain anything in the book that puzzled him. Shortly after the conversation, she noticed him starting to look tired, which didn't surprise her, as it had probably been a long and unusual day for him. She sent Harry to the bathroom so he could brush his teeth, and transfigured a set of his old clothes into pajamas for him. When he was done, Lia tucked him into bed, giving him a hug and good-night kiss. He looked touched at that, and she internally cursed the Dursleys as she turned off the light and left the room.

As it was only eight o'clock, Lia decided to speak with her foster family. At first she was only going to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, but then decided to have a family meeting instead. After casting some protective spells on her home (she didn't put it past Mr. Dursley to track down where she lived and try to get Harry back), she fire-called the Burrow.

Percy was in the kitchen, feeding his pet rat, Scabbers, and hurried over to the fireplace when Lia's call went through. "Hello, Lia. Is something wrong? We weren't expecting you until Monday."

"Hello, Percy," said Lia. "Would you mind getting the rest of the family? Something came up in the course of my job today, and I believe a family meeting is needed to discuss it. I'm Flooing over now."

Percy's eyes widened behind his glasses. "Did you find a Muggleborn child with a bad home life? Don't worry, I'll get the rest of the family immediately." Without waiting for Lia to get up and Floo over, he got to his feet and ran out the kitchen, Scabbers still clutched in his hand.

A few minutes later, Percy (minus his rat, which was now in his room) returned with the rest of the family. Ron and Ginny looked curious, Fred and George were frowning, and Charlie, Bill (who was visiting for the holidays before he went on assignment to Egypt), and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked extremely worried. Mrs. Weasley made tea, while the rest of the family gathered around the table.

"So what happened today, Lia?" Mr. Weasley asked once the mugs of tea had been passed around. "Did you actually find a Muggleborn child that was being abused?"

"Well, he wasn't Muggleborn, but he might as well have been," Lia said. "He was raised in the Muggle world, and his Muggle relatives kept him ignorant of his heritage. Anyway, I received a call today from a woman that was concerned about a boy she baby-sat for. He turned out to be Harry Potter."

The entire family gasped in shock and horror. "How is that possible!?" exclaimed Mrs. Weasley.

"Evidently Harry's aunt and uncle hated magic," Lia said sourly. "In fact, Mr. Dursley flat out said that they swore to beat the magic out of Harry when they decided to take him in." She quickly explained what had happened to Harry, though in a fashion that wouldn't upset Ron and Ginny too much, and about Mrs. Figg and how apparently Professor Dumbledore didn't take her concerns seriously.

The younger Weasleys winced as they heard what happened. Certainly their mother could be scary when she shouted at them whenever they badly misbehaved, but neither she or their father had ever laid a hand on them. The worst punishment any of them had gotten was when Fred and George had been grounded for a month for trying to perform an Unbreakable Vow on Ron. Also, although money was tight, they had never gone hungry or lacked in the things that mattered, like love and laughter.

"Thank Merlin you were able to take Harry out of there, Lia," said Mrs. Weasley. "I can't believe his relatives could have been so awful! Why would the poor boy be left with them anyway?"

"According to Professor McGonagall, Harry was left with the Dursleys because Professor Dumbledore wanted him to be away from the fame," Lia responded. "There was also something about wards and how Harry would be protected so long as he lived with his aunt. It seems the only reason the Dursleys were willing to keep him was due to them getting paid two hundred pounds, or about forty Galleons, a month. I presume it was for Harry's upkeep, but they obviously didn't spend much of it, if at all, on him. The money is likely the main reason why the Dursleys didn't want me to take Harry away."

Mr. Weasley's face darkened. "I'm starting to see why some of us dislike Muggles so much. I'm half-tempted to engage in Muggle-baiting on those Dursleys." He quickly throttled down his anger, and in a calmer tone of voice, asked, "Would you like us to take Harry in, Lia? Molly and I would be happy to."

"Harry can share my room," Ron piped up. "I wouldn't mind."

"Normally I would say yes, but there are other concerns," Lia answered. "Harry's just found out about the wizarding world and how his parents really died. He needs time to adjust and placing him in a wizarding household right away would be something of a shock to him. Also, since my removing Harry from his relatives and working to bring the Dursleys up on charges of child abuse are taking place in the Muggle world, I need to place him in a certified foster home. I was thinking about having him live with the Grangers, if Harry is willing to do so once he meets them."

"That's a good idea," said Mr. Weasley, for the family had meet the Grangers three weeks ago, when the Muggle family had wanted to meet a wizarding family as a way to learn more about the wizarding world. The two families had gotten along, other than a brief quarrel between Ron and Hermione over the latter's bossiness, which had ended when they realized how they were acting and apologized.

"I'm glad you think so, Dad," said Lia (when the Weasleys had _de facto_ adopted her, they had told her she could call them 'Mum' and 'Dad'). "Anyway, I'll be bringing Harry with me on Christmas, so he can meet the family and the Grangers, since they've been invited over. Just please be a little cautious in how you interact with him and try not to overwhelm him. I've told Harry about us and the Grangers, but he's not going to be used to people being nice to him. His cousin Dudley and Dudley's group of friends bullied Harry at school, and scared the other kids into not wanting to stand up for Harry, much less befriend him. And I gather the teachers were mostly indifferent to him, and the only adult who showed any sign of caring was Mrs. Figg."

"We'll do that," said Mrs. Weasley. "Fred, George, that means no pranks of any sort, is that clear? He's not going to be used to your sense of humor, and I don't want him thinking you're bullying him."

"We'll be on our best behavior, Mum," Fred and George promised solemnly.

"It's getting close to Ron and Ginny's bedtime, so I'll be leaving now," Lia said, getting to her feet. "If you all could, please keep Harry's situation a secret for the time being. I don't want the wrong people finding out. Also, after what Professor McGonagall told me, I don't want to risk Dumbledore deciding the wards are more important than Harry's happiness and sending him back to his relatives."

The younger Weasleys looked shocked that Professor Dumbledore would do such a thing, but the adults exchanged somber looks. After everything they'd heard, it was possible he could decide to do that. "Don't worry, we'll keep it secret," Mr. Weasley said, and then Lia Flooed back to her house.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, after breakfast, Lia took Harry to London and bought him a new winter wardrobe, complete with two pairs of shoes and a pair of snow boots. After the shopping trip, they had lunch at a hamburger place, where she explained that her friends were coming by later to help him.

"Why would they want to help me?" Harry asked, looking bewildered. "I'm nobody special."

"Harry, my friends are very nice people who have the jobs they do so that they can help others, even if those others aren't special," replied Lia. "Ellie is a Healer, that's the wizarding version of a doctor, and she's going to give you a check-up and heal you. Tristan works in Wizarding Services and is going to help me file paperwork that will make me your guardian in the wizarding world. Eric specifically became a lawyer so he could help people with legal matters and will help me with the case against your relatives for child abuse."

Harry was silent for a moment as he thought it over, then asked, "What do I call your friend? Dr. Ellie?"

Lia shook her head. "Her title is 'Healer', so she would be 'Healer Vicks' or 'Healer Ellie'. She'll likely have you call her 'Healer Ellie'. By the way, have you had a doctor's appointment before?"

"Just once, before I started school," Harry answered. "I had to get my shots and stuff for school."

Lia pursed her lips, wishing the doctor had noticed something was off about Harry. However, from what he had told her, his relatives hadn't started beating him until after he started school. Before that, all he'd gotten was shoves and punches from Dudley, and a slap from his aunt for asking a question (namely, where he had gotten his scar). The most a doctor would have noticed was Harry wearing his cousin's castoffs and being somewhat underweight, both of which could be easily explained away.

After lunch, the two returned to Lia's house, and a few minutes after Harry had put his new clothes away in the closet, Ellie, Eric, and Tristan Flooed over. Ellie was dressed, not in Healer robes, but in a doctor's white coat that she had borrowed from her father (who was a Muggle doctor). She had with her some paperwork that she had also gotten from her father, so that Harry's file would have a copy of a 'doctor's' record on the extent of his physical health as further evidence.

Both Eric and Tristan were wearing Muggle clothes too, and the latter had the paperwork needed to register Lia as Harry's guardian in the wizarding world. Eric had, in addition to the notes he'd drawn up to further the case against the Dursleys, a small file of things he'd discovered in relation to Harry's parents and the situation on why Harry had been placed with his relatives.

Ellie kindly greeted Harry, did her best to make him feel comfortable, and then started the check-up. The others went to the kitchen, where after Lia filled out the paperwork, Eric and Tristan told her what they'd found out. "As you surmised, Sirius Black was named Harry's main guardian if anything were to happen to the Potters," said Eric. "Oh, and Black apparently never got a trial for his crimes."

"He didn't?" Lia asked blankly. "I thought all accused criminals were entitled to a trial?"

"Apparently during the war, the right to a trial was suspended for those arrested as Death Eaters," Tristan said, making a face. "Barty Crouch, Sr. was Head of my department at the time, and you've heard what kind of person he was. Oh, some people did get trials, but from the records I found, they weren't always fair ones. And others that were probably guilty got off by claiming they were under the Imperius Curse and no doubt gave monetary 'donations' to the Ministry as well, like the Malfoy family. Anyway, the wartime laws regarding accused Death Eaters were still in effect during the immediate aftermath of You-Know-Who's defeat, and since all the evidence pointed to Black being guilty, Mr. Crouch sentenced him to life imprisonment in Azkaban without bothering with an actual trial."

"Black still should have gotten a trial," said Lia. "I know he's guilty and all the evidence shows it, but even in the Muggle world, at least in Western countries, all accused criminals get a trial."

"You'll have to blame Mr. Crouch for that," said Tristan. "But I can talk with Madam Bones, the current Head of Department, and see if Black can get a trial. She's friends with my parents, and my family can use their connections to convince her and Minister Bagnold into granting him a trial."

"There's more on Harry Potter's situation," Eric said, bringing things back to the original subject. "We found a copy of the Potters' will that was filed with the Ministry, but it was sealed. It seems Professor Dumbledore ordered it to be sealed, in his capacity as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, with Minister Bagnold countersigning it. Tristan can't unseal it and read it without getting in trouble for it, and I don't want to find myself without a job or have charges brought against me if I tried, so we're looking to see if there's another copy of the will that we can get our hands on."

"Maybe Gringotts has a copy somewhere," said Lia. "Or that wizarding solicitor's firm has one on file. Of course, since none of us have a reason to contact the firm and there's no way for word to _not_ get to Professor Dumbledore if we did, we'll have to take Harry to Gringotts to check there. At least the goblins will be close-mouthed about everything and don't care to meddle in wizarding affairs. Frankly, I don't want to think badly of the headmaster, but all his actions regarding Harry are strange."

Eric frowned. "Maybe it's the Slytherin in me, but I think there is a sinister motive for Dumbledore's actions. I know the Potters were already targets, since they were fighting against You-Know-Who, but there was no need to kill a harmless baby. The fact that You-Know-Who specifically sought out Harry as a baby and tried to kill him points to the fact that he, that is You-Know-Who, thought that Harry could eventually grow up to defeat him. Why You-Know-Who thought that, I don't know, but the point is he must have. Anyway, Dumbledore must have realized this. Now, think about Harry's reaction to you rescuing him from the Dursleys and telling him about his heritage and the wizarding world, Lia."

"He was grateful to me," answered Lia. "He practically saw me as his savior. And he was awed to learn about the wizarding world and eager to find more about it."

"Precisely," said Eric. "Now, imagine if you hadn't rescued him and it wasn't until he turned eleven and got his Hogwarts letter that he learned everything and was able to escape his relatives. Harry would have transferred his feelings about being rescued to Professor Dumbledore and seen him as something of a savior. That would leave Harry more malleable and easier to manipulate."

Tristan looked sick, while Lia turned angry. "No, it's not the Slytherin in you, Eric," she said through gritted teeth. "What you've said makes a great deal of sense. Not that I had much to do with the headmaster, but I sometimes thought he could be a bit manipulative. I was under the impression that he only did it for good and with the best of intentions, but in light of his actions regarding Harry, some of it is at best the kind of intentions that the road to Hell is allegedly paved with."

"Well, the best thing that could have happened is that Mrs. Figg calling about her concerns and you rescuing Harry," said Tristan. "It puts a kink in whatever plans Professor Dumbledore has for Harry, and the poor kid isn't going to be manipulated by any of us. I know you'll see to it that he can stand on his own and not be forced down any path he doesn't want to go to. Anyway, here's the file on what we found out for you to look at, Lia, and you might as well keep it, since it'd raise questions if we were found with it. If we find anything more, we'll let you know."

Lia nodded. "Thank you both. And Eric, if you don't mind, I'd like to retain you as the solicitor for this. If someone in the wizarding world tries to send Harry back to his relatives or I get in trouble for saving him, you can do your best to keep him safe or me out of Azkaban. What kind of fee or retainer do-"

"Don't be ridiculous, Lia, you don't owe me a Knut," Eric interrupted indignantly. "Even if we weren't friends, I'd still take this on _pro bono_. No child deserves to be abused, even if they're not famous like Harry Potter is, and no social worker should get in trouble for rescuing an abused child."

Ellie came into the kitchen at this point, her mouth a thin line. "If I could make the Dursleys suffer everything that Harry went through, I would," she said grimly. "I ran a diagnostic spell, and it didn't look good. His poor eyesight is hereditary and the glasses, which I made a duplicate of so he doesn't have to keep wearing that taped-up pair, correct for that, so I ignored that. However, he is clearly suffering from malnutrition due to not getting enough to eat, though thankfully it hasn't become that serious yet. Getting proper food, and enough of it, along with the regimen of Nutrient Potions I've prescribed will correct it. The only good thing is that the only injuries he's suffered are bruises, most from his cousin hitting him, and welts from being beaten with a belt by his uncle."

The others winced, and Ellie continued, "I suspect the only reason the Dursleys didn't abuse Harry any more than they already did, such as beating him to the point of causing broken bones, was simply for appearances. He'd have to be taken to the hospital to be treated for a broken arm or similar, and the doctors would realize that something was wrong, no matter how much the Dursleys tried to explain it away. Not to mention that there'd be talk from the neighbors and the teachers at Harry's school. Here is the paperwork and notes I've taken on Harry's physical health for your files, Lia. Let me know if I need to testify in court against the Dursleys. I'll do a Glamor Charm so I look old enough to be a doctor, and I have the necessary records to make it look like I'm employed at my father's clinic."

"Thank you, Ellie," said Lia. "Would you mind keeping an eye on Harry for an hour or two? I need to talk to the Grangers about him and see if they're willing to become his foster family, and I'd rather do that in person than over the telephone. You can tell Harry more about the wizarding world."

"Of course, Lia," said Ellie. "Tristan, can you come with me? You can give a pureblood's perspective on it." Tristan got up and followed her to the living room.

Eric, who had some other matters to attend to, bid Lia good-bye and Apparated to his flat. Lia put away the notes and paperwork in Harry's file and the other file in her bedroom, called the Grangers to let them know she was coming over, and then Apparated to their back yard.

Hermione, a ten-year old with bushy brown hair, brown eyes, and rather large front teeth, answered the door. She was a bookworm and incredibly intelligent for her age, making her a good candidate for Ravenclaw, and had been very excited to find out about the wizarding world. She was in the middle of avidly perusing all the books about the wizarding world and Hogwarts that her parents had bought for at Flourish and Blotts during the trip to Diagon Alley that Lia had taken them on. Unfortunately, her bookworm tendencies and high intelligence, coupled with the few bouts of accidental magic she'd had, had also made her a target for teasing and bullying at school. The bullying had recently stopped however, when Hermione had, on Lia's advice, reminded her classmates that her parents were the town dentists and could make their next dental appointments very unpleasant for them.

"Hello, Lia," said Hermione cheerfully (Lia had asked to be called by her first name, as age-wise, she was more of an older sister). "I'm happy that you came to visit. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Hermione," replied Lia. "How have you been?"

"I'm good," said Hermione, moving aside to let Lia in. "Things at school are much better now." She shut the door and the two went to the living room, where Mr. and Mrs. Granger were.

"Lia, hello," said the adult Grangers, getting up. "What did you need to see us about?"

"I was wondering if I could take you up on your offer of being foster parents," answered Lia, taking the proffered seat on one of the two armchairs. "I rescued a boy named Harry Potter who was being abused by his aunt and uncle and bullied by his cousin. Harry is going to be in Hermione's year."

"Wait, Harry Potter?" asked Mr. Granger, exchanging shocked looks with his wife. "The boy mentioned in _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_ and who you told us helped end the war against that evil wizard? He's being abused? I would have thought his relatives would be proud of him."

"Well, Harry's aunt and uncle are rather like my parents, only less religious and more abusive," said Lia. "From what Mrs. Dursley said, she considered her sister and brother-in-law to be freaks, and her husband clearly thinks the same. In fact, Mr. Dursley said that they swore to beat the magic out of their nephew when they took him in, though they initially didn't want to. Professor Dumbledore did leave a letter explaining things and asking that they take in Harry, but I believe the main reason they did so was because they were getting paid two hundred pounds a month to keep him."

"Why would the headmaster of Hogwarts leave Harry Potter with such abusive people?" Mrs. Granger asked, looking horrified. "Just because they're his relatives doesn't mean they'd be fit guardians."

"From what Professor McGonagall told me, Dumbledore wanted to keep Harry away from all the fame, and there were wards on the Dursley home that would protect Harry so long as he lived with his aunt," responded Lia. "Obviously the wards were to protect him from magical harm, since it did nothing to stop him from being abused." She summarized everything that Harry had told her about his life at the Dursleys, slightly edited so as to not upset Hermione too much.

"The poor boy!" exclaimed Mrs. Granger, exchanging another shocked look with her husband. "How could anyone be so despicable! Lia, of course we will take Harry in and be loving foster parents to him. We've got plenty of room, and Ian and I make more than enough money to be able to properly raise him. We'll get one of our spare bedrooms set up to be Harry's room."

"Thank you, Ian and Michelle," said Lia gratefully (the Grangers had asked she call them by their first names, even though they were technically old enough to be her parents). "I'll be bringing Harry over to my family for Christmas dinner tomorrow, so you can meet him then and he'll decide if he wants to live with you. He wanted me to take him in at first, but I had to explain that I couldn't due to rules."

Both Mr. and Mrs. Granger nodded in understanding, and Hermione said, "I hope Harry decides to live with us. I'll be happy to him recover from what he went through. Well, I don't know how much I can help with his being abused, but I do know what it's like to be bullied and can help with that."

"Harry will need that help," Lia said. "I'm going to set up some counseling sessions for him after he's settled in. If you want, Hermione, you can have a few sessions too. Being bullied can take a toll on your mental health, after all." Hermione said she would consider it, and Lia continued, "If it's fine with you all, I'll have Harry move in shortly after the holidays. There are a few things that need to be done first, like seeing if his parents had left a copy of their will at Gringotts. The copy that was filed at the Ministry of Magic was sealed, and my two friends that work there can't unseal it and read it without getting in a great deal of trouble. I'll see you tomorrow at the Weasleys, all right?"

Hermione nodded, and her parents got up and saw Lia out the door.

Author's Note: Since there is no mention of the first names for Hermione's parents, other than the fake ones (Wendell and Monica Wilkins) that she gave them for their protection, I decided to use the first names of the actor and actress portraying them in _Deathly Hallows, Part One_.


	4. Chapter 4

In the evening, after Harry had gone to bed, Mrs. Weasley Flooed over with four packages. "Here, Lia," she said, handing the packages over. "They're Harry's Christmas presents. The top one is from Arthur and me, and the other three are from the children. I imagine Harry hasn't gotten much in the way of presents, if at all, and he deserves to have something to open on Christmas morning."

"Thank you, Mum," said Lia, stowing the presents underneath the tree with the ones she had bought that afternoon after visiting the Grangers. "The only 'presents' Harry has ever gotten were his cousin's old clothes, and he was told that he was bad boy and didn't deserve any gifts from Father Christmas."

Mrs. Weasley made a face. "Poor Harry. Thank Merlin he's safe now. I hope he likes his gifts. They're not much, but they'll certainly they better than getting old clothes or nothing at all." She hugged and kissed Lia on the cheek, then bid her good-night and Flooed home.

The next morning, Lia woke Harry up with a cheerful, "Merry Christmas, Harry." He sat up, stifling a yawn, and tentatively responded with the same greeting. "Go get dressed and brush your teeth, Harry, and then you can join me in the living room so you can open your presents."

Harry froze in the act of walking over to the closet to grab some clothes. "I get presents?" he asked, looking confused. "But – I – Uncle Vernon said I was a bad boy and don't deserve presents."

"Harry, you are _not_ a bad boy," Lia said firmly. "Your uncle is wrong. Also, look at your cousin. He could be said to have been bad for bullying you and scaring your classmates to not wanting to help you or befriend you, but I bet he got many presents at Christmas."

Harry nodded. "Dudley got thirty-five presents last Christmas, and there's loads of presents for him right now under the tree Uncle Vernon got. He gets lots of birthday presents too."

"See? If anything, Dudley shouldn't be getting so many presents, since it spoils him and enforces the fact that he can get away with his bad behavior. You, on the other hand, are a very sweet boy who does his best to be good, and deserves to have rewarded. Now go get dressed and brush your teeth. The sooner you're done, the sooner you can go downstairs and open your presents."

Harry quickly dressed and rushed off to the bathroom. Five minutes later, he joined Lia in the living room, and gaped at the pile of presents underneath the tree. "Are all of them for me?"

Lia chuckled. "Some of them are mine, but most of them are for you. I got you some presents, and so did my friends and the Weasleys. Here." She handed him a present that was labeled as his.

Harry eagerly opened it to reveal a book that Tristan had found that detailed the publicly known facts of the Potter family, traced all the way back to one Linfred of Stitchcombe, who had lived in the Middle Ages and was nicknamed 'The Potterer', which later was shortened to Potter. "Wow, this is about my family?" Harry exclaimed, staring down at the book in awe.

"Yes, Tristan thought it would be a good idea for you to know more about your family," said Lia, who was in the middle of opening her present from Ellie (a red silk scarf and matching gloves).

Harry flipped through the book briefly, then remembered something. He pulled out a thin package wrapped in red tissue paper that Ellie and Tristan had helped him with from under the tree. "Here, Miss Lia," he said. "I made this for you. I hope you like it."

Lia opened it to reveal a card that Harry had made, wishing her a Happy Christmas and thanking her for rescuing him. Underneath the card was a picture he had drawn, of a snowman in a top hat and red scarf standing next to a decorated Christmas tree.

"Why, thank you Harry," she said, beaming. "I love the card, and the picture is nicely drawn." She conjured up a frame, which she slipped the picture in, and then placed it on the mantel. "There, it'll be a good decoration for the room, and anyone that visits will be able to see it."

Harry looked pleased that his gift was appreciated, and moved on to open the rest of his presents. Ellie had given him the book _Quidditch Through the Ages_ , and Eric had given him a training broom. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had given him a hand-knitted jumper, emerald-green with a gold 'H' worked in the front, and a large box of nut brittle. Bill, Charlie, and Percy had gotten together to get him the book _Hogwarts, a History_ and a box of Chocolate Frogs. Fred and George had given him a box of various wizarding sweets, and Ron and Ginny had gotten him a stuffed dragon.

Lia's presents to Harry consisted of a set of emerald green robes, a boxed set of _The Chronicles of Narnia_ series (they had been her favorite books when she was Harry's age), a bucket of Lego bricks, and a child's potion kit. (She figured that once he found out that some of his ancestors were known Potioneers, he would be interested enough to want to learn more about potion-brewing.)

Harry thanked her for his presents, and brought them all up to his room while Lia went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

After breakfast, the two went to attend the Christmas service at the local church, since that was a tradition that Lia had been raised with. The Dursleys weren't particularly religious or big church-goers, though they did attend services on Christmas and Easter, and brought Harry along so that they could impress on their neighbors of how charitable they were to take in their orphaned nephew.

After the service, the Grangers, who lived two towns away, arrived in their car, since they were going to join Lia and Harry in Flooing over to the Weasleys. The Grangers introduced themselves and were very nice to Harry, and upon hearing that he hadn't been to the dentist since the one time when he was five for his school records, said that they would give him a dental check-up next week. Hermione, in an effort to make Harry feel better, told him about some of the bullying incidents she'd gotten at school in the past, and followed it up with an offer to be friends.

"That would be nice, Hermione," said Harry, a bit hesitantly since he had never had a friend before.

"Good," said Hermione, beaming at him. "You'll be my first friend, along with Ron and Ginny."

The group then Flooed over to the Weasleys, with Lia holding on to Harry's hand as it was his first time. When he tumbled out of the fireplace, he wasn't sure if he liked this mode of travel, but didn't say anything as he stood up and brushed soot off his new jumper and trousers.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were in the kitchen, and carefully approached Harry. "Hello, Harry dear," said Mrs. Weasley warmly, giving him a gentle hug. "We're Molly and Arthur Weasley."

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," Harry said shyly. "Thank you for the jumper and nut brittle."

"You're welcome, dear," replied Mrs. Weasley. She turned and took the green bean casserole the Grangers had made to put with the rest of the food, while Mr. Weasley shook Harry's hand.

Lia then escorted Harry to the living room so he could meet the rest of the family. "This is Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George. Don't worry if they pretend that they're each other, Harry. It's just something they like to do for a laugh. To continue, this is Ron, who's going to be in the same year at Hogwarts as you and Hermione, and last but not least, Ginny, who is the only girl and a year younger than you."

"Hello's" were exchanged, and Harry thanked the others for their presents. "It's no big deal," said Bill. "It's horribly unfair that your cousin got spoiled with lots of presents, while you didn't get much of anything, so we wanted to make that up to you. Besides, you'll likely be friends with Ron, and like Lia, be practically like family, so presents are in order anyway."

Shortly after that was the Christmas meal. Since the kitchen was too small to fit everyone comfortably, Mr. Weasley temporarily did a spell to magically enlarge the interior, sort of like how the TARDIS was bigger on the inside (Harry had heard his classmates talk about the television show _Doctor Who_ ). The table was also expanded as well, and Lia and Mrs. Weasley conjured extra chairs.

Harry was seated at one end of the table with Ron and Hermione next to him and Ginny and the twins across from them. Lia said a short grace, and then Mr. and Mrs. Weasley proceeded to carve the large turkey and serve the food. Harry's eyes widened at the amount of food on his plate.

"Your aunt and uncle didn't feed you very much, did they?" Ron asked, correctly interpreting the look. "That was rotten of them. Mum always makes sure that we get enough to eat."

"Do eat up, Harry dear," said Mrs. Weasley. "You're much too thin. But if you can't finish it all, since I imagine you're getting used to having regular meals, that's perfectly all right. Just eat as much as you can."

The food was absolutely delicious, and Harry managed to eat everything on his plate, though he turned down a second helping since he was feeling quite full. He did manage to eat a small slice of Christmas cake, however, when dessert was served. During the meal, Ron told him (and Hermione) more about the wizarding world, with some input from Ginny, who was initially shy but gradually became bolder, and the twins, and what it was like growing up in a wizarding family.

"It's not quite the same as other wizarding families, of course, since there's so many of us," George said. "Most other families only have two or three children at most, but we Weasleys are known for having many children."

"And not all wizarding families are as accepting of Muggles and Muggleborns," Percy put in from slightly further down the table. "Lia told you about that, right?"

Harry nodded. "She explained that when she was telling me about Vol-sorry, You-Know-Who."

"But generally we're good sorts," said Ron. "I love my family, even if Fred and George annoy me sometimes." He proceeded to tell the story of how Fred, in anger over how Ron accidentally broke his toy broomstick, retaliated by turning Ron's teddy bear into a spider. Fred hadn't meant to scare Ron so badly that the latter now had a fear of (living) spiders, but it had happened. Their mother had yelled at Fred for that and punished him with no dessert and having to de-gnome the garden (Ron and Ginny explained what that was), and after that, the twins tried to be more careful with their pranks.

"I'm really sorry about that," said Fred. "Anyway, whenever me and George plan to do a prank now, we generally ask Lia, Bill, or Charlie about it first to make sure we're not going too far. We want to give people a laugh, not hurt them. But you don't have to worry about us pranking you, Harry."

"Yeah," seconded George. "Even if Mum wasn't going to angry with us if we did, we don't want to scare you, since you're not used to our humor or all the stuff that magic can do."

After dinner, the younger Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione went outside. Fred, George, Percy, and Charlie had a snowball fight, while the four youngest built a snowman and snow fort, and went sledding down the nearby hill. It was the first time Harry had done so, and he had a great deal of fun.

Three hours later, everyone went back inside for hot chocolate and Christmas tea, which consisted of the leftovers from lunch, most of which were made into sandwiches. Harry learned more about Hogwarts from the Weasleys that were currently attending (or in Bill's case, had graduated at the end of the previous school year), and found himself deciding that he liked Ron enough to count him as a friend. For that matter, Ginny and the twins were also nice enough to be friends as well, though Harry figured that Ron and Hermione would be his closest friends, since they'd be in the same year as him when they started Hogwarts. When it came time for him, Lia, and the Grangers to leave, he was a bit sad to go, but comforted to know that he'd be seeing the Weasleys again.


	5. Chapter 5

On Boxing Day, Lia stopped in at work long enough to report on the Harry Potter case, and was given permission to devote her time to making sure that Harry was going to be properly settled at the Grangers and working on the case against the Dursleys. She only had one other case, which was checking up on a poor family, and one of her co-workers was quite willing to take that over.

Following that, she drove Harry (who was wearing his new robes and had on a hat to hide his scar) down to London, where they met the Grangers outside the Leaky Cauldron. The five of them entered the pub and hurried to the back, where Lia pulled out her wand and tapped the brick that would open the archway leading to Diagon Alley. Harry gazed in awe at this display of magic, and his mouth fell open in shock and delight as he took in the wizarding street.

After giving him a couple of minutes to adjust, they headed to Gringotts Bank. Harry managed to keep from gaping at the goblins there, since he had been warned about them and didn't want to appear rude. "Excuse me," Lia said, approaching the front desk. She gave a traditional goblin greeting in Gobbledygook (she had learned some of the language in school), then switched back to English to say, "Could we please have a private meeting set up with an account manager or someone similar?"

The goblin at the desk looked sternly at the group, then asked, "May I ask why?"

Lia looked around to make sure nobody else was listening in on the group, and then she responded in a whisper, "It concerns the estate left to Harry Potter." She gestured at Harry. "Mr. Potter is right here. I have recently become his guardian in the wizarding world, and the Grangers here are his guardians in the Muggle world. Miss Hermione Granger is a witch, if you are wondering why they are here."

The goblin leaned forward to look at Harry, who slipped up his hat briefly to reveal the scar. "I see," said the goblin. "Please wait a moment while I have a word with my superiors."

A few minutes later, a goblin who appeared to be older than the one at the front desk approached the group. "Good day, I am Sliptooth, a general manager of several Gringotts accounts. I am willing to grant you your private meeting. If you would please follow me to one of our private rooms?"

Sliptooth led the way inside a small room that contained a long table and six chairs. Once everyone was seated, he activated the privacy spells on the room, which ensured that nobody would be able to overhear them. "So, you are Harry Potter," he said, gazing appraisingly at the boy. "If you would give me your hand please. I need to take a drop of blood to verify that you are who you say you are."

Harry swallowed, but held out his left hand. Sliptooth seized it, and pricked the pointer finger with a sharp dagger. Before Harry had time to register the pain, Sliptooth had squeezed out a drop of blood into a small silver bowl. He waved a hand, healing the tiny wound, and then did some kind of goblin magic to verify Harry's identity. "All right, you are Harry James Potter, son of James and Lily Evans Potter. What is the purpose of this meeting that you and your guardians have requested?"

"I-I wanted to find out what my parents had left me," Harry said nervously.

"Also, we wondered if James and Lily Potter had filed a will with Gringotts or left it in their vault," Lia added. "The copy filed at the Ministry was sealed, which is quite odd."

"Yes, the Potters left a copy of their will at Gringotts," answered Sliptooth. "It is located in the Potter family vault, separate from the trust vault they had set up for their son shortly after his birth. I can take you and Mr. Potter down to the family vault and retrieve the will."

"Thank you, Master Sliptooth," said Lia respectfully. She then proceeded to introduce herself and the Grangers. After that, she asked, "If you don't mind, would you not mention anything spoken about in this meeting, except of course to any of your superiors that would need to know? I fear certain people would take advantage of things if they discovered that Harry Potter was at Gringotts today."

Sliptooth nodded. "I will make sure that no other witch or wizard hears anything about this meeting without your permission, Mr. Potter and Ms. Killian. Oh, and Mr. and Mrs. Granger as well."

Lia then gave a summary of Harry's life with his Muggle relatives and how she had rescued him from it. Sliptooth's face darkened upon hearing it. Certainly goblins could be a bit bloodthirsty and cruel, and were quite strict with their young, but they never meted out punishment unless it was deserved, and certainly not anything that didn't fit the wrong. If a goblin child had made a minor error, they would receive a lecture and perhaps a cuff about the head, but they wouldn't be beaten. "You should not have suffered needlessly at the hands of your kin, Mr. Potter," he said distastefully.

Harry shrugged. "Well, I'm away from them now, and that's all that matters, Mr. Sliptooth. Er, me and Miss Lia were wondering if we could see a copy of my account statements, please."

Sliptooth nodded and snapped his fingers. A small stack of parchment appeared on the table. The first few sheets he placed in front of the group. "These are the statements from the Potter family vault. It currently has 835,624 Galleons, fifteen Sickles, and twenty-three Knuts, and at least two thousand Galleons have been deposited every year due to the investments that the family has made. The rest of these are the statements from the trust vault. It currently has 6,728 Galleons, 430 Sickles, and 519 Knuts. About 40 Galleons a month, or 480 a year, has been withdrawn since the death of the Potters, changed into Muggle currency, and deposited at an account in a Muggle bank."

"So that would be where the money the Dursleys were getting for Harry's care was coming from!" Mrs. Granger exclaimed in disgust. "So they were essentially stealing from him!"

Sliptooth frowned. "Perhaps, but according to what I remember from the Potters' will, whomever that was serving as Harry Potter's guardian was to be given money for his care. Since Mr. Potter is not with his relatives anymore and you and your husband are now his primary guardians, Mrs. Granger, I can end the payments to these Dursleys and transfer them to you two."

"Oh no, we don't need the money at all," Mr. Granger said firmly. "Please stop the payments to the Dursleys, but don't transfer them to us. Michelle and I are perfectly able to provide for Harry without needing any of the money his parents left him. If he wants to withdraw from his trust vault and spend it as his pocket money, that is his prerogative, but we will not touch, er, a Knut of it."

"All right then," said Sliptooth, making a notation. "Ms. Killian, as you are Mr. Potter's guardian in the wizarding world, you are also entitled to payments, though it is less as you are not his primary one."

"No thank you, I have no need of the money either," Lia said. "I agree with Ian, that Harry can spend however much he withdraws from his trust vault, but I will not touch any of that."

Sliptooth nodded and made another notation. "In addition to the withdrawals, the trust vault has been getting a deposit of five hundred Galleons a year, transferred from the family vault. That is the only money Mr. Potter can have from his family vault until he turns of age, though he is free to remove any items from there, such as the will and any family heirlooms stored there for safekeeping."

The Grangers and Lia quickly scanned the statements, which showed that what Sliptooth had said was correct. "Thank you for the information and your services, Master Sliptooth," said Lia, and Mr. and Mrs. Granger echoed it. "If you don't mind, could we please go visit the Potter vault now?"

"You may," said Sliptooth, rising to his feet. Since Hermione was a witch, she was able to accompany Harry and Lia, but her parents were asked to wait in the room for them, since Muggles couldn't visit any of the vaults unless they were granted ownership of one by a witch or wizard.

The ride in the cart to the Potter family vault was an exciting one, with Harry imagining that it was probably similar to riding a roller coaster. Sliptooth opened the vault, revealing what was essentially a large room filled with columns and mounds of gold coins, with the exception of a very tiny pile of silver and bronze ones. In one corner, half hidden by the coins, several carved wooden boxes were tucked away. A quick look in the boxes revealed two of them to contain jewelry, three more held old journals that previous Potters had written in (some of which had potion recipes), and the final one contained an invisibility cloak, the Potters' will, and seven journals that Lily and James had written in.

Harry decided to leave the jewelry boxes in the vault for the time being, until he was old enough to use them (such as the cuff links) or got married and gave them to his wife (most of the rest). The rest of the boxes he took with him. The journals he would examine at his leisure, so he could learn more about his parents and Potter ancestors.

Lia's eyes widened when she saw the invisibility cloak, and demonstrated its properties for Harry and Hermione. Upon finding out that it still worked perfectly, she frowned, for invisibility cloaks normally did not last long. Ones made from demiguise hair would eventually turn opaque, while the ones that were just ordinary cloaks that had Disillusionment Charms or Bedazzling Hexes on them would have the spells wear off over time. The only true invisibility cloak was the one mentioned in the 'Tale of the Three Brothers', and that was just a story that she had read to Ginny and Ron before.

"Lia, there's a note that fell out of the cloak when you picked it up," Hermione said, pointing.

"There was?" asked Lia, looking in the box. There indeed was a piece of parchment lying on top of the will and journals, and she picked up. "Do you mind if I read this, Harry?" Harry shook his head, so she read the note, and her eyes widened as the note (written by James Potter for Harry) explained that the invisibility cloak was one of the Deathly Hallows from the 'Tale of the Three Brothers'. The whole things with the Hallows (the Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, and Invisibility Cloak) being gifts from Death obviously wasn't true, but were instead things created by the Peverell brothers, who were very powerful and talented wizards. Ignotius Peverell was the youngest of the brothers and creator of the Cloak, and his granddaughter (who had inherited the cloak due to the lack of male children in her generation) had married the oldest son of Linfred of Stitchcombe, passing it on to the Potter line.

"Oh my," gasped Lia, taking a moment to sit down on one of the boxes in order to compose herself. "I never thought that a wizarding story I read to Ron and Ginny actually had a basis in fact." She handed the note to Harry so he could read it, and when he was done, she explained to him and Hermione the 'Tale of the Three Brothers'. "The Elder Wand is believed to be at least possibly be real, since there are reports in history about unbeatable or powerful wands, under names like 'Deathstick' and 'Wand of Destiny', but the other two were never thought to be actually real. Well, imitations of the invisibility cloak exist, but they're either regular cloaks with spells on them, or woven from the hair of a magical creature that can turn invisible, a demiguise, and the spells wear off or the hair becomes opaque."

"So I have this extra special cloak that is supposed to be some sort of myth," said Harry slowly, trying to process this information. "Well, that explains why it's in a box with the rest of the family heirlooms."

Lia nodded. "Since obviously the fact that the Invisibility Cloak exists isn't common knowledge, it has to be a family secret. So I suggest you not tell anyone else about it, except for those you trust, and Hermione and I will keep it a secret as well. Let's get it packed up again."

The cloak was put back in the box, and the rest of the boxes that Harry wanted to take were shrunk down and put in a bag for him to carry. Lia carried the last box.

The three left the vault, shut and locked the door, and went out to the cart, where Sliptooth was waiting. They rode back to the surface, and went back to the private meeting room where Mr. and Mrs. Granger were waiting. Harry and Hermione explained what they had found in the boxes of heirlooms, except for the true significance of the Invisibility Cloak (they just made it sound like the imitations), and then Lia took out the Potter's will for them all to read.

Once past the usual 'being of sound mind and body' and other legal stuff, they came to the bequests.

" _To our friend, Remus John Lupin, we leave the sum of ten thousand Galleons. Use it well to support yourself, since we know that the wizarding world is prejudiced against you for being a werewolf_." After Lia explained that yes, werewolves were real, and that there were people in the wizarding world that were prejudiced against them even though most were only dangerous during the full moon, they went on to the next item, which left ' _the sum of five thousand Galleons to our friend Peter Pettigrew, and the three journals containing all the Marauders' prank ideas to Sirius Orion Black_."

"Who or what are the Marauders?" asked Mr. Granger, exchanging puzzled looks with his wife.

"I would guess that it's the name James Potter and his friends called themselves," Lia said. "I can ask Professor McGonagall to confirm it, but I did hear from some older students back in my first year that they liked to play pranks and were big jokers, sort of like Fred and George."

The next items were the bequests to Harry. " _To our son, Harry James Potter, we leave the rest of our estate. This consists of our house in Godric's Hollow, the Potter ancestral home that I (James) grew up in, the contents of the houses, and the contents of the Potter family vault and the trust vault set up for Harry, minus the money and journals designated for Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Also, all the Potter family investments are left to Harry as well, and all money derived from them are to be deposited in the family vault, with the exception of five hundred Galleons to be placed in the trust vault. Harry, however, can only withdraw money from his trust vault, and cannot remove anything, other than the family heirlooms and other items stored in the boxes, from the family vault until he turns of age._ "

That was followed with, " _In the event of our deaths, custody of our son is to go to Sirius Orion Black, with Remus Lupin aiding him in the upbringing of Harry. (We would make Remus full co-guardian, since he is the responsible one, but sadly the laws against werewolves prevent us.) If Sirius is unable to fulfill his godfatherly duties, Peter Pettigrew is to become guardian, again with Remus's aid. If Peter is unable to, custody of Harry is to go to Frank and Alice Longbottom. Under no circumstances is Harry to be placed with Petunia Evans and Vernon Dursley, my (Lily) sister and brother-in-law. They greatly dislike magic, and do not care of us, so we fear that they will not properly take care of Harry._

 _To make things easier for Harry's guardian(s), we authorize the sum of forty Galleons a month to be withdrawn from the trust vault to help pay for Harry's needs. We realize that both Sirius and the Longbottoms do not actually need the money, but Remus and Peter could use it. The payments will end when Harry becomes of age._ "

The will ended with the usual closing, a note that copies of the will would be filed with the Ministry and the wizarding law firm, and the signatures of James and Lily, Sirius Black, and Albus Dumbledore.

"Wait, so Professor Dumbledore had some knowledge of what was in the Potters' will, since he signed as a witness, and he still left Harry with his awful relatives?" Mrs. Granger asked incredulously.

"It looks like it," said Lia grimly. "Wait, there appears to be a codicil as well." Seeing that Harry and Hermione weren't familiar with the term, she added, "A codicil is like a postscript that can be added to a will, when a person wants to modify their will but not draw up a completely new one."

The codicil was dated 22 October, 1981, about a week before the Potters' death, and signed only by James, Lily, and Sirius. It read, " _We, Lily and James Potter, still in sound mind and body, have decided to make Peter Pettigrew our Secret-Keeper instead of Sirius Black. Since this puts Peter in much more danger than he was before, we have decided to remove him from the list of guardians. If something should happen to prevent Sirius from getting custody of our son, Harry is instead to go to Frank and Alice Longbottom, and if something prevents them, then Minerva McGonagall is to take over. Remus Lupin is to still aid in Harry's upbringing in all cases._

 _It has become clear that Voldemort is definitely after our son, since he has gotten wind of a prophecy that was made predicting that a child born at the end of July to parents who have thrice defied him can have potential to defeat him. As both Harry and the Longbottoms' son, Neville, fit the prophecy, both our families have gone into hiding and have prepared contingencies for when Voldemort comes after us. Professor Albus Dumbledore was the one to tell us of the prophecy, as he was the one to hear it, and we fear that he may have certain plans for our sons, or at least whichever one ends up fulfilling this prophecy. Therefore, we do not fully trust him to have the best interests of Harry, and have also filed a copy of our will, with the alterations in guardianship and modified with Muggle terms, with a Muggle law firm._ " This was followed with the name of the firm and their address.

"Allen, Watson, and Associates?" exclaimed Mr. Granger upon reading the name and address. "But that's the same law firm that Michelle and I have! What a strange coincidence."

"Well, whatever the coincidence, it works in our favor," said Lia. "Since you're Harry's guardians now, you can take him to the law firm, explain that you heard a copy of his parents' will was filed there, and get the copy there. I wouldn't be surprised if they have no idea that the Potters are dead. What I'm more interested in is that Sirius Black isn't the one to betray the Potters. If James and Lily Potter followed through with making Peter Pettigrew the Secret-Keeper, then he was the one to betray their location to Voldemort instead." She explained about the Fidelius Charm.

"So you're saying that an innocent man, or at least one innocent of betraying his friends and serving this Voldemort, is in wizarding prison for it," said Mrs. Granger.

Lia nodded. "This would explain everything that led to Black's arrest. He was probably tracking down Pettigrew in order to confront him about the betrayal. Pettigrew, once cornered, decided to pretend that it was Black who was at fault, and Black was so angry that he let his temper get the best of him and did that spell that killed Pettigrew and twelve Muggles and blew up the street. Unless Pettigrew did the spell himself in order to fake his death, but I highly doubt that."

"Well, if Black did what he did in order to avenge his friends and the deaths of the other twelve people was accidental, then his sentence should be lightened," Mr. Granger said. "Lia, you said he got a life sentence in the wizarding prison because of the deaths and his betraying the Potters. Since he didn't betray the Potters and the deaths he caused, with the exception of Pettigrew's, were all accidental, the time he has served so far ought to be enough."

"We'll have to see, Ian," said Lia. "Unfortunately, due to the wartime laws at the time, Black didn't get a trial. I'll speak with my friend Eric, who's a lawyer in the Ministry of Magic, about this new development, and see if my friend Tristan, whose family has connections, can get Black a trial."

After Mr. and Mrs. Granger got over their shock that Sirius Black didn't get a trial, the group thanked Sliptooth for his aid and they left. The group stopped at the Leaky Cauldron long enough to eat lunch, and then drove down to the law firm of Allen, Watson, & Associates.

Once the Grangers explained the matter to their solicitor, Mr. Watson, he was quite helpful. As Lia had surmised, the firm had no idea that the Potters were dead. Mr. Watson, after looking through their files, found the copy of the Potters' will. It was virtually identical to the one at Gringotts, except without any mention of magic and anything pertaining to the wizarding world, and the money left to Remus and Peter Pettigrew were listed as two thousand and one thousand pounds respectively. The money to be given to Harry's guardians was also listed as two hundred pounds a month. There was no codicil in this one, either, since it was a basically a new will that the Potters had drawn up.

The Grangers thanked Mr. Watson for his help, and Lia said that she would use the will as evidence to prove that the Dursleys had illegally been given custody of their nephew. With that, they left, with the Grangers going home so that they could get Harry's bedroom set up, while Lia and Harry went to speak with Eric and Tristan about this new development.

Author's Note: I have decided that for this fic, the Potters didn't completely trust Dumbledore, so James Potter never lent the invisibility cloak to Dumbledore, but instead placed it in the Potter family vault for safekeeping. The plan was that Sirius (or Remus or the Longbottoms) would take Harry to Gringotts when he was eleven and retrieve it and any other heirlooms that Harry wanted.


	6. Chapter 6

On December 29th, Remus Lupin, who had been contacted, came by for a visit. He was horrified to hear that Harry had been abused by his relatives and apologized many times for not being there for him and being persuaded by Professor Dumbledore to let Harry alone until he attended Hogwarts. When Lia explained the situation further, Remus became very upset over how Dumbledore had arranged things, and had to restrain his temper upon reading the Potters' will. When he managed to calm down sufficiently, he said, "Whatever you've got planned, Lia, I will help you. I know I can't do much as I like, since I'm a werewolf, but I'll do what I can, and will keep it a secret from people like Dumbledore. I may be grateful to him for not being prejudiced against me and arranging it so that I could attend Hogwarts, but my loyalty to my friends and their son takes precedence over that."

"Thank you, Remus," said Lia. "Right now, I'm finishing building up the case against the Dursleys, with the help of my friend Eric, who has offered to be the solicitor for our side. Also, I'm working with the Grangers on getting Harry settled in with them, since he's due to move in with them tomorrow. They'll be coming by in a bit, so you can meet them. They want to arrange something so that you can spend time with Harry, since you are supposed to have some say in his upbringing, and perhaps tutor him and Hermione about the wizarding world. My friend Ellie is helping Harry heal from what he's been through, both physically and mentally, and my third friend Tristan is looking into getting Sirius a trial."

Remus made a face. "I should have believed in Sirius more. Initially I was shocked to hear that he betrayed Lily and James and thought there was some mistake, but the evidence finally convinced me that he was guilty. I think the talk I had with Dumbledore helped with that. Anyway, I should have known that Sirius would be too loyal to ever betray his friends, considering his dog form, and realized that Peter would turn out to be the little rat he was."

"What are you talking about?" Lia asked, looking confused. Remus sighed and explained how when his friends figured out that he was a werewolf, they had decided to become Animagi so that they could keep him company during the full moon, as werewolves didn't attack animals. By fifth-year, they had mastered the transformation, with James as a stag, Sirius as a dog, and Peter as a rat. They were unregistered (obviously), though later on, they had planned to register after the end of the war.

"Look, don't blame yourself, Remus," said Lia. "You had no idea that Pettigrew would turn out to be a traitor, or at least be so scared of Voldemort that he'd be incapable of keeping a secret. Or that his Animagus form would end up being a clue to his real nature. He was in Gryffindor, after all."

"True, but he was a Hatstall." Before Harry could ask what a Hatstall was, Remus added, "A Hatstall is an archaic term for someone that takes longer than five minutes to be Sorted into a Hogwarts House. Peter took about six minutes, and he later told us the Sorting Hat had difficulty deciding if to Sort him into Gryffindor or Slytherin. That should have been another hint, that he was almost a Slytherin."

"Not all Slytherins turn out evil," Lia pointed out with a frown. "My friend Eric was in Slytherin. He had no problem with me being a Gryffindor, and we even dated for a bit before we realized that we felt too much like brother and sister. Yes, he's ambitious and cunning, which is good for his job as a lawyer, but he only uses it for good, such as what he's doing to help Harry right now."

"I know not all Slytherins are evil," Remus said patiently. "The Head of Slytherin during my time at school was Professor Slughorn, and while he favored certain students, it had nothing to do with blood purity or what house they were in. The ones he favored were those that were magically talented and so had the potential to succeed in life, or had connections, like famous relatives or family friends. I was more so talking about Wormtail being more cunning than the rest of us suspected. Or he was just a person who was more interested in saving his own skin over protecting his friends."

Lia shrugged. "You never know how people can turn out during wartime. Look at the Muggle Second World War. There were any number of people who would have never dreamed of hurting their Jewish friends or neighbors, but were willing to turn on them, or at least not do anything to help them, when the Nazis came into power. Pettigrew could have been like that."

"I suppose," said Remus thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, Peter did like being part of the Marauders, because the rest of us were rather popular and quite talented. He wasn't all that great at school, and was thrilled that I convinced James and Sirius to give him a chance and befriend him. Out of school, however, Voldemort would have been the more powerful one, and attracted Peter."

Since Lia didn't know Pettigrew personally, she didn't comment, and instead suggested that Remus tell Harry some stories about his parents. The two went off to do that, and when the Grangers arrived an hour later, they spent an hour talking with Remus. At the end, the Grangers offered him a part-time job at their dental clinic, filing records and checking patients in for their appointments. In addition, he was asked to spend afternoons with Harry and Hermione, keeping an eye on them after they came home from school and giving them lessons about the wizarding world. Remus accepted, and he was offered the guest room at the Granger home until he found a flat of his own nearby.

The following day, Harry moved in with the Grangers. He stared in awe at the room he had been given, which was larger and much nicer than the one that had been designated as his back at the Dursleys. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had consulted him, and so the room was decorated in his favorite colors of ruby red, emerald green, and pale gold. Two bookcases were filled with books, some of which were ones that he had read before from his school library (the one place Dudley's gang avoided) and had liked. He'd also been given a partially-filled toy box, consisting of a bucket of Lego bricks, a couple of action figures, a remote-controlled airplane, and three board games. He added the toys and books that Lia and the Weasleys had given him to the box and bookcases.

For the first two weeks, Lia came by every day, for an hour or two in the evenings, mainly to help Harry settle in and not because she was checking up on how the Grangers were treating him. After that, her visits became every other day, and by the time January ended, she only made weekly visits, unless something warranted her coming by to see him or the Grangers. At that point, Harry had more-or-less adjusted to his new situation and wasn't so dependent on Lia, whom he had initially seen as a guardian angel, until she asked him to see her as a friend and like an older sister.

He soon came to see Hermione as a sister as well, especially when she stood up for him the one time some of the other kids at his new school tried to tease him. She finished by very pointedly reminding them that Harry was her foster brother and best friend, and so was off-limits. On the weekends, the two of them would visit the Weasleys, or Ron and Ginny would visit them. Ron and Ginny were quite happy to introduce them to wizarding games and stories, and they in turn were interested in the Muggle games and books that Harry and Hermione had. While Ron had very little interest in the many non-fiction books or classic fiction books that Hermione enjoyed reading, he did like the fantasy books that Harry enjoyed, and was fascinated with Muggle fairy tales. Ron especially liked the _Chronicles of Narnia_ , since it had adventure and magic, and Roald Dahl's books, because they were entertaining.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were extremely kind, with the latter always tsking over Harry's skinniness and encouraging second and third helpings on him and Hermione at lunchtime. As Mr. Weasley was very interested in Muggles and the Muggle world, he would often ask Harry and Hermione questions about it. One of them was 'What is the function of a rubber duck?', and he looked a bit bemused when Harry explained that it was just a Muggle bath toy. Harry, of course, had never had a rubber duck, though Aunt Petunia had gotten Dudley one years ago in an attempt to entertain him during bathtime. He had lost interest with it fairly quickly, however, and the toy had eventually ended up in the dustbin.

Healer Ellie visited twice a week, spending an hour talking with Harry and helping him mentally heal, and dropping off the Nutrient Potions that he was taking. She also spoke with Hermione once a week, seeing to it that the girl didn't suffer any adverse effects from being teased and bullied previously.

In the evenings, Harry and Hermione went over the Potter journals with Remus's help. The oldest was a set of four that dated all the way back to Linfred of Stitchcombe, who had recorded all the potions he had made or experimented on, and had preservation spells on them. Other than briefly flipping through them, however, they didn't read those journals, as a later Potter had transcribed them from the Medieval English to a more modern format. While some of the language was still a bit archaic (it had been transcribed in the early 1600's) and the spelling wasn't formalized, it was understandable.

Of the journals that Harry's parents had written in, three of them were the ones that Marauders had used to record their various pranks or ideas they had for pranks or joke items. Harry laughed over some of it when he read it, and then put the journals aside to pass on to Sirius once his godfather was free, as per his parents' will. The remaining four were ones that Lily and James had written while in hiding to tell Harry about their lives and the history of both the Potter and Evans families. The last entries were dated the day before they had added the codicil to their will.

In the middle of March, Tristan had finally convinced Madam Bones and Minister Bagnold to grant Sirius Black a trial, which would take place at the beginning of April. Eric managed to get himself assigned as the lawyer for the defense, and made a trip to Azkaban to consult with Sirius. At around the same time, Petunia and Vernon Dursley, who had been arrested in January, had their trial.

There were plenty of witnesses on the prosecuting side, consisting of Lia, Ellie (who was portrayed as Dr. Vicks), the Grangers, and Mrs. Figg. On the defense side, the only person willing to be a witness on the Dursleys' behalf was Vernon's sister, Marjorie Dursley, or Marge for short. Anyone else that could have testified on their behalf had stated that they didn't know anything about Harry's home life.

The copy of the Potters' will that was filed with the Muggle law firm was produced as evidence that Harry had been illegally left with his relatives. To explain how he'd been placed there, Ellie had come up with the idea to blame everything on Pettigrew, since they couldn't bring Professor Dumbledore into the picture. The story was that Pettigrew had taken over care of Harry, since Sirius hadn't been able to in the immediate aftermath of the Potters' deaths. Pettigrew had apparently arranged for Harry to temporarily live with his relatives, and then had died in an unfortunate gas explosion later that day.

Harry was the last person to testify on the prosecuting side. He ignored the glares and angry looks from his relatives and Aunt Marge, and answered all the questions that Eric asked him. Every so often he would glance at Lia and Hermione, who were giving him encouraging looks, for moral support. The Dursleys' lawyer, one Mr. Carmichael, declined to ask him questions, and in fact looked sorry for him.

When Aunt Marge testified, she unleashed her vitriol towards Harry. She went on about how he was an ungrateful brat and attention-seeking liar, and that her brother and sister-in-law had taken in their unwanted nephew out of the goodness of their hearts. She added that if Harry had been dumped on her doorstep, she would have sent him straight to an orphanage. Lia privately thought that he would have been better off at an orphanage, and from the look his face, he felt the same.

Uncle Vernon kept blustering that everything he'd done was for Harry's own good and that he hadn't been abusive to the boy. Meanwhile, Aunt Petunia admitted that perhaps they had been overly harsh towards their nephew at times, but maintained that he needed a firm hand when it came to discipline. Dudley simply said that his parents punished Harry whenever he was bad, and that the bullying that he and his friends had done towards his cousin was just a game. Dudley didn't think his parents were abusive towards his cousin, or seem to realize that what his behavior was wrong.

Mr. Carmichael had a look of distaste as he questioned the Dursleys, and so did the judge. The verdict was that the Dursleys were found guilty of child abuse. Vernon Dursley was sentenced to twenty years in prison, while Petunia, who had been marginally nicer, only got fifteen. Dudley had been living with Aunt Marge while his parents had been in custody, but after seeing what an unpleasant person she was, the judge ruled that he was to be placed in a foster home instead and she could only visit. Harry didn't have to see his relative again if he didn't want to, and he was to stay with the Grangers.

Naturally, Mr. Dursley protested (though his wife looked resigned), and even blamed his lawyer for not properly defending him, but the judge snapped at him to shut up or he'd be charged with contempt of court. He desisted, still looking angry, and Mr. Carmichael said coldly, "The two of you are despicable people, and your sister isn't much better, Mr. Dursley. If my sister's children had to live with me, or my wife's brother's children had to, I would treat them the same way I do my own children, and not abuse them. I only agreed to take on your case to keep you from finding some unscrupulous solicitor that would get you off on the charges and because I have bills to pay. Now, good day."

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were escorted out by policemen, while a social worker (not Lia) took charge of Dudley. Marge Dursley made an attempt to protest the proceedings, but after the judge threatened to charge her with contempt of court as well, she shut up and angrily left the courtroom. Mr. Carmichael walked over to Harry and expressed sympathy for what he'd gone through and then left as well.

Once outside, Mrs. Figg hugged Harry. "I'm so glad that you don't have to be with your awful relatives anymore, Harry. I do wish I had contacted Child Services earlier, though."

"It's all right, Mrs. Figg," responded Harry. "Miss Lia only started working last year. If you'd contacted Child Services much earlier, someone else would have checked on me and might have believed my aunt and uncle over me. Also, I probably would have been too scared to tell."

Mrs. Figg admitted that he had a point and then said, "Well, I hope your new life continues to be as wonderful as it is now, Harry. Oh, and I have a gift for you and your new sister." From the backseat of Lia's car she took out a carrier and handed it to Harry and Hermione. Inside was a half-grown ginger-colored kitten with yellow eyes, bandy legs, and a bottlebrush tail. Its face was rather squashed, as if it had run headlong into a wall. "He's a tom, and you and Hermione can name it whatever you want. He's from the last litter of kittens. I sold his brothers and sisters to the pet shop in Diagon Alley, but I kept him for the two of you. He's half-kneazle too, so he's more magical than a regular cat."

"Thank you, Mrs. Figg," Harry and Hermione said, pleased, as they examined the kitten. Since the cat had bandy legs, after a bit of discussion they decided to name him Crookshanks, and made a note to look up more information on kneazles later on in one of the Magizoology texts that Lia had given them.

After that, Mrs. Figg left, while the others headed to Lia's home, for they were going to Floo over to the Weasleys for a small party to celebrate Harry being legally free from his relatives. While he was happy to be free from them, he wasn't so sure how he felt about his aunt and uncle being in prison. Whenever thoughts of escaping them had come up, it had only involved him no longer living with them and nothing about them being punished for how they treated them.

When Harry mentioned this, Mr. and Mrs. Granger exchanged looks, while Lia said, "Your first concern was to get away from your relatives, not about punishing them so that's understandable. And Harry, the fact that you aren't vindictive shows that you are the better person."

Mrs. Granger nodded. "Not everyone is willing to just forgive and forget. Well, I don't know if you do forgive your relatives, but you just want to forget ever being with them at the very least. However, we adults wanted to see justice done, so the trial happened."

"I wish more had been done, though," Mr. Granger grumbled. "Mrs. Dursley should have gotten the same amount of prison time as her husband. Just because she didn't beat you, Harry, only slapped you a few times, doesn't mean she's not as guilty. She still knew what was going on and made no attempt to stop it from happening. And I would have sentenced them to life in prison."

"There's a difference between justice and vindictiveness," Lia said sternly. "Yes, they yelled at Harry, hit him with a belt, made him sleep in a cupboard, and didn't feed him properly, but they could have been much worse. I've known of cases where a child was beaten bloody or left with broken bones, made to sleep on the bare floor without any blankets or pillows, and starved almost to death. The parents or guardians in those cases certainly deserved life in prison, but this is different. I agree with you about Mrs. Dursley getting the same sentence as her husband, but you know how things are."

Mr. Granger nodded, since it was fact that many judges, especially male ones, tended to go easier on women, outside of truly horrific cases. He sighed and dropped the subject.

Once at the Burrow, the Weasleys expressed delight that the trial had gone as planned and Harry was legally safe from the Dursleys. As the Easter holidays had started two days ago, all the Weasleys were present (except for Bill, who was at his new job in Egypt). Fred and George cheered the loudest at the good news and set off some fireworks in celebration. Charlie, who was quite knowledgeable about magical creatures, examined Crookshanks interestedly, and told Harry and Hermione everything he knew about kneazles, which was a great deal.

Mrs. Weasley had made a cake and plates of biscuits and jam tarts, and the other adults had brought food as well, so there was plenty to eat and drink. Harry had his first taste of butterbeer (that Remus had brought), and found the drink soothing and absolutely delicious.

Shortly after everyone was done eating, Percy brought down his pet rat, Scabbers, having forgotten about Crookshanks. Harry and Hermione looked at the sleeping rat interestedly.

"What happened to Scabber's paw?" asked Hermione, pointing at the paw with the missing toe.

"I don't know," replied Percy. "He was missing the toe when I found him in the garden. I was five then, and Mum and Dad said I could keep him as my pet when I asked."

Just then, Crookshanks hissed loudly and jumped onto the table, swiping at the Scabber's cage. Percy hastily picked it up, while Harry exclaimed, "No, Crookshanks! Scabbers is a pet, not food!"

Hermione went to move Crookshanks off the table, but he darted out of her grasp and made a leap for Percy, who quickly jumped back. "Stop that!" scolded Hermione, managing to grab the cat, who had landed on the floor. "What has gotten into you, Crookshanks? You were so well-behaved before."

"Wait a second," said Remus, coming over to them. "Mrs. Figg said that your cat was half-kneazle, right? So maybe he senses that there's something odd about the rat, not that he sees it as food."

Percy looked alarmed to hear that, and thrust the cage at Remus. "Mr. Remus, could you check?"

"Of course," said Remus, peering at the rat. His face instantly paled, and became even paler when he saw that Scabbers, who had started squeaking and running around in a panic was missing a toe.

"What is it?" asked Percy, becoming even more alarmed. "What's wrong with Scabbers?"

"I think your pet rat isn't really a rat," answered Remus. "It's been years, but he looks like Wormtail."

"You mean Peter Pettigrew?" asked Harry. "But he's dead. He was blown to bits and all that was found of him was a –" His voice trailed off as he remembered that Scabbers was missing a toe.

"Exactly," said Remus. "Peter must have faked his death and has been hiding as a rat all this time."

While Harry and Hermione updated Percy, Remus took the cage and went off to notify the other adults. They were alarmed upon hearing the news, and Eric promptly Stunned Scabbers. After that, the rat was dumped out of the cage and onto the floor, and Remus did the spell that would force something or someone back to their original form. A flash of light later, the rat was replaced with the Stunned body of a plump and rather mousey man of about thirty.

"That's Peter Pettigrew," Remus said grimly. He muttered some swear words under his breath.

"Well, that should make things easier," said Eric, glaring down at Pettigrew. "I bet Sirius didn't kill anyone at all. Pettigrew must have done the blasting spell to facilitate the faking of his death."

"Percy!" Ellie called. When Percy came over, she asked, "Was your rat aware about Harry, or around him at any time, except for just now?"

Percy shook his head. "I kept Scabbers in my room at Christmas, and after that, he was at school with me. I didn't mention Harry whenever Scabbers was around, and neither did anyone else in my family. He was asleep when I was showing him to Harry and Hermione, and Scabbers only woke up when Crookshanks tried to attack him. And at that point, he wouldn't have really noticed Harry."

"Then it looks like Harry's situation is still a secret," said Ellie, looking relieved.

Tristan cleared his throat. "Pettigrew needs to be taken into custody. I'll contact Madam Bones about it, but for right now, Lia, could you take Harry upstairs? He can't be seen by the Aurors. You might as well take the other kids with you too and explain what's going on."

Half an hour later, Madam Bones arrived with three Aurors, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Alastor Moody, and Seraphina Fawley (Tristan's older sister). Moody had some Veritserum, which he administered to Pettigrew before magically binding the captive in ropes and reviving him. Upon awakening, Madam Bones proceeded to question Pettigrew, with Moody and Shacklebolt occasionally adding questions of their own and Seraphina (as the most junior Auror of the three) recording everything down.

Once the questioning was over with, Moody muttered angrily about how Pettigrew had managed to hoodwink them all, while Kingsley Shacklebolt and Madam Bones assured the Weasleys that they weren't to blame. After all, Pettigrew had shown no sign of being anything other than a common rat.

"Really, Arthur, how were you to know any different?" Madam Bones pointed out. "It's a good thing that Pettigrew has been found now, though. You were right to convince me that Black needed a trial, Tristan, and that you backed your brother up, Seraphina. Well, I'll make sure that Pettigrew is in full custody, with spells to prevent him from transforming and escaping, and Black's trial will definitely be much easier now. I think I can get the date moved up too. Oh, and I'll have a word with the Minister about making sure that Dumbledore can't interfere. When he got word about Black's trial yesterday, he showed up at the Ministry and tried to talk Minister Bagnold out of going ahead with it."

Eric, Tristan, and Ellie exchanged looks and wondered if Professor Dumbledore had ulterior motives for Sirius to not get a trial. Mr. Weasley raised a brow, while Mrs. Weasley and Remus looked shocked. "Why would Professor Dumbledore be against the trial?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Madam Bones shrugged. "I don't know all the details of the meeting. All I know is Dumbledore seemed convinced that Black was guilty of his crimes and that a trial wouldn't change any of that. Fortunately Minister Bagnold didn't give in. Once the Fawleys and I convinced her that a trial was necessary, she was determined that nothing would change her mind on the matter, even if others disagreed."

"Madam Bones, could I stay behind and have a word with my brother?" Seraphina asked.

Madam Bones agreed, and took the sheaf of parchment containing Pettigrew's testimony. With that, Moody and Shacklebolt took charge of the captive, and the four of them Apparated away.

"What's going on, Tristan?" Seraphina demanded. "Eric and Ellie are here, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lia was involved as well, since the four of you are practically inseparable. Something is up, and I would like to know. Don't worry, I swear not to tell anyone else, but please, tell me."

Tristan exchanged looks with his friends, then said, "Yes, Lia is involved, but we promised her, plus the subject of the situation, to keep it a secret, Sera. It's not anything illegal, though."

Sera's eyes narrowed. "Considering Lia's job, I assume that this secret involves some magical child that was being abused and needed to be removed from his or her guardians. If it were a Muggleborn child, there would be no need for this secrecy, so I think I have a good idea as to who this child is. Especially as you sought the family's aid in getting Sirius Black a trial. Just tell me one thing, does Professor Dumbledore know anything about this, and if not, is it safe for him to know?"

"No to both," Eric said firmly. "He was the one that placed this child with his – or her – abusive relatives, even though the parents' will states that under no circumstance was the child to go to their aunt and uncle. Of course, the abusive relatives have been sentenced to Muggle prison now, but we don't want to take the risk of Dumbledore trying to undo things and send the child back."

"Ah," said Sera, looking angry. "I hope this child is fine now and in a safe and better home?"

Tristan nodded. "We did explain that the Grangers are visiting, and that it was the new cat that their daughter was showing off that realized something was off about Percy's pet rat. They've taken this child into their home and are his new foster family. Well, not so new anymore, since he's been with them almost three months, but you know what I mean, Sera."

"All right," Sera replied with a nod. "I swear on my magic to not mention any of this to anyone else that's not in the know, unless Lia or the subject of this secret gives me permission to do so. I will not voice my suspicions of who this child is, unless and until I get confirmation, since we avoided naming him or her during this discussion. And this way, I can honestly say that I don't know who it is if I were to be questioned on the matter. Thank you for explaining matters somewhat, Tristan and Eric. I'd better go now, and I'll make up some story as to why I needed to have a word with you, Tristan."

With that, Sera Disapparated out of the house, and Ellie went upstairs to tell the others what had happened and that it was safe for Harry to come downstairs.

Author's Note: As J.K. Rowling has stated that Mrs. Figg breeds cats and kneazles for a living, I decided that for this fic, Crookshanks was part of a litter that one of her cats/kneazles had and that she sold to Magical Menagerie once the kittens were old enough to leave their mother. With the events in this fic, Mrs. Figg decided to keep out one of the kittens instead of sending it on to the pet shop with his siblings, and give it to Harry and Hermione.


	7. Chapter 7

With Peter Pettigrew in custody, all those in the Ministry and the Wizengamot that had opposed Sirius Black being granted a trial were silenced. Barty Crouch, Sr., who was the one responsible for sending Sirius to Azkaban without a trial, was in complete disgrace, and he resigned from his post as Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. A formal investigation into the Hit Wizards and Aurors responsible for the capture and arrest of Sirius started, as apparently there had been no real procedure done at the time. Nobody had bothered to check Sirius's wand to confirm if he had cast the blasting spell, and the wand had been snapped shortly after his arrest. All that had been done was testimony gathered from the surviving Muggles on the street before their memories had been wiped and Crouch sentencing Sirius to life imprisonment to Azkaban three hours after he'd been placed in a Ministry holding cell.

The trial took place two days after Pettigrew's arrest, where Sirius confirmed that he the only thing he was guilty of was convincing Lily and James Potter to switch Secret-Keepers. Well, technically he was also guilty of being an unregistered Animagus, but as he had planned to register after the end of the war and had already served time in Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit, he was just told to register as soon as possible after his release. For his wrongful incarceration, the Ministry gave him the sum of fifty thousand Galleons as recompense, as well as paying for his healing at St. Mungo's.

Peter Pettigrew's trial followed immediately after, and he was sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss for his crimes, framing someone else for them, and managing to escape justice for so long. The only member of the Wizengamot that disagreed with this sentence was Dumbledore, but he had long been known for his dislike of Dementors and how the Ministry used them. Not that the others on the Wizengamot liked them, either, but most of them saw the Dementors as a necessary evil.

Ellie had managed to get herself assigned as part of the Healer team assigned to Sirius, as it would further her training to become a Mind-Healer. Since Sirius had managed to remain sane by thinking that he was innocent (which wasn't a happy thought) and occasionally turning into his Animagus form, he didn't need as many mind-healing sessions like other people exposed to Dementors long-term.

A week later, Eric dropped by St. Mungo's so that Sirius could sign the paperwork that would get his Animagus form registered. After he'd signed the papers, he said, "Mr. Vicks, you've been very helpful to me, and so has your sister. Healer Vicks has also told me that your friend Tristan Fawley was the one that got me a trial, with the help of his family. I am extremely grateful to the three of you. "

"No thanks is needed, Mr. Black," responded Eric. "We believe in seeing justice done, and I became a lawyer in the first place so that I could help people and do something about some of the outdated laws that the Ministry has. Also, the three of us, along with the fourth person in our group of friends, found out some very disturbing things, which convinced us that you deserved a trial."

"Please call me Sirius," said Sirius. "I got enough of being called 'Mr. Black' during my Hogwarts years. Who is the fourth person in your friend group? And were you anything like the Marauders?"

"Well, if I'm going to call you by your first name, then you can call me by mine," said Eric, smiling. "As for the fourth person, her name is Cornelia Killian, Lia for short. And no, our group was nothing like the Marauders. We weren't the kind to play pranks like your group of friends did, though we did get into some hijinks occasionally, and we were all in different houses. My twin was in Ravenclaw, Tristan in Hufflepuff, Lia in Gryffindor, and I in Slytherin."

"You were in Slytherin?" asked Sirius incredulously, raising a brow. "You don't seem the type."

"I hope you're not the kind of person that thinks all Slytherins are evil," Eric said. "Slytherin traits are supposed to be ambition and cunning, which I've got. I just use it for good. Also, I'm a halfblood, so I'm not one of those purebloods that thinks Muggles and Muggleborns are beneath magical folk."

"Sorry," Sirius apologized. "I know that not all Slytherins are bad, it's just that pretty much everyone in family were in Slytherin and they were an unpleasant lot, with the exception of my Uncle Alphard and cousin Andromeda. And they got disowned, the latter for marrying a Muggleborn and the former for leaving his money to me after I ran away from home and moved in with the Potters."

"I can understand that," said Eric. "My mother wasn't disowned, but her family, who were mostly in Slytherin, disapproved of her marriage to my father, who is a Muggle doctor. They would have been fine with a Muggleborn, since the family's already considered halfblood, but a Muggle was too much."

Sirius made a face. "What a stupid attitude. Anyway, since you've been a great help to me, and I like you, would you be willing to work for me, Eric? I want to retain you as the Black family lawyer, though at the moment, I'm the only Black, unless there are some descendants of previous disowned members running around. You're still free to take on other cases, as long as they don't conflict with my interests, since I doubt I'll have tons of work for you to keep busy with. As I've inherited all the Black assets, other than anything left to my cousin Narcissa Malfoy, I can afford to hire you. How does six hundred Galleons a month sound, with an extra hundred a week if I'm having you work on something for me? And I'll pay for all the expenses that you may incur in those instances as well."

Eric blinked, for he hadn't expected an offer like this. "That's very generous of you, Mr. Black, I mean Sirius," he said once he'd gotten over his surprise. "Since I doubt your interests and views will conflict with mine, and it will enable me to take on more _pro bono_ cases than I can now, I accept your offer."

"Good," said Sirius with a satisfied smile. "Now I do have some questions. The Healers working with me couldn't tell me much, though your sister did say that she might be able to tell me more later."

Suspecting what kind of questions that Sirius was going to ask, Eric cast a privacy spell on the room so that nobody could overhear them and they wouldn't be disturbed unless there was an emergency. "Ask way, though I think your first question is going to be about the Potters and your godson."

Sirius nodded. "Do you know anything about what happened to Harry? None of the Healers had any idea of where he is, though they heard that he's with his relatives."

Eric sighed. "Unfortunately, Harry _was_ sent to his relatives." Since he had permission from Harry to tell Sirius everything, he continued, "Dumbledore had the copy of the Potters' will that was filed at the Ministry sealed, and got Minister Bagnold to countersign it. He was also the one that placed Harry with his aunt and uncle, to keep him away from all the fame. Supposedly it was also for his safety, since Professor McGonagall said that Dumbledore had set up wards. Fortunately my group of friends were able to retrieve the copies of the will that were in the Potter family vault and the Muggle law firm. The codicil told us that you were innocent, at least of being the Secret-Keeper, and that Pettigrew was the one that betrayed the Potters. That's why Tristan got you a trial, and why I defended you."

"How did you and your friends manage to get those copies of the will?" Sirius asked. "Nobody knew about them except for Lily and James, me, and for the Muggle one, the lawyers at the firm."

"You can't get upset, or at least not stay upset, otherwise your healers will know something is wrong," Eric answered. "And keep in mind that's in the past and justice has been done. Now, my friend Lia is a Muggleborn witch. Her parents were the conservative religious type, and disowned her for being a witch and insisting on attending Hogwarts. Anyway, she decided to become a Muggle social worker and help other children that are abused or were in a similar situation to her. In December, she got a call about a child that was being abused by his relatives, and he turned out to be Harry Potter."

Sirius exclaimed, "WHAT!" and became angry. After a moment, he managed to calm down a bit.

"Don't worry, Lia removed Harry at once, and started proceedings to have the Dursleys arrested for child abuse. They had a trial earlier this month, in a Muggle court, and were both sentenced to prison. I frankly would have liked them to have life imprisonment, but as Lia pointed out, the abuse wasn't as horrific as it could it have been. Anyway, Harry's safe now. Lia took it upon herself to visit families of Muggleborns that are due to attend Hogwarts within a couple of years, since she didn't want a repeat of her situation. One of them, the Grangers, who has a daughter that will be in Harry's year at school, registered as foster parents when they heard what Lia was doing, and took in Harry."

Sirius looked relieved to hear that, and Eric explained about Lia's relationship with the Weasleys and how they and Remus were helping with Harry and Hermione's education about the wizarding world.

"Remus is involved in things?" inquired Sirius, looking pleased. "That's good for Harry."

"Well, the Potters' will did say that they wanted him involved in Harry's upbringing, so of course we contacted him and let him be a part of things," said Eric. "Remus will be visiting you tomorrow. He would have seen you sooner, but he wanted you to have a chance to heal first, and let me explain things to you. Once you are proclaimed recovered and are released from here, Lia will meet with you and take you to see Harry. Once Harry's gotten to know you, we can transfer guardianship to you. At the moment, the Grangers are his guardians in the Muggle world, while Lia and Professor McGonagall are his guardians in the wizarding world. Since Lia was the one to rescue him, Harry wanted her to be a guardian, and Professor McGonagall was the only one available out of the ones listed in the codicil."

Sirius thought for a moment. "Since I don't think Harry will want Lia taken off the guardian list, why don't you keep her on? Just replace Professor McGonagall's name with mine, and me and Lia can be his co-guardians, at least for the wizarding world. Don't do anything about the Grangers just yet. I'm sure Harry has undergone enough changes in his life for now. I had to adjust to life with the Potters after I had run away, and _my_ home life wasn't as bad as Harry's had been, though it was pretty bad. Once Harry starts Hogwarts we can discuss if he wants me to take over custody from the Grangers."

"All right then," said Eric. "I assume I don't have to ask you to keep this all a secret? The last thing we want is for Dumbledore to decide the wards are more important and somehow contrive to undo the Dursleys' arrest and incarceration so that Harry can be sent back to them."

"Don't worry, I won't mention this to anyone that's not already in on the secret," Sirius assured him. "Though it does mean I won't be able to yell at Dumbledore for what he did. However, is there any way that I could bring charges against him for sealing the Potters' will? And perhaps eventually get him charged for illegally placing Harry with his relatives."

"Well, I can certainly look into doing the first, Sirius," Eric replied. "Though considering his position in society, that might be hard to do. I can sue to have the copy at the Ministry unsealed, however, and then we go on from there. The Wizengamot can declare that the Muggle copy invalid, and there's no way to explain how we got the copy from Gringotts without bringing Harry into the picture. Though perhaps you can retrieve the copy from the wizarding law firm, if they still have it."

"I'll do that," said Sirius. "In the meantime, you can work on getting the will unsealed. I'll authorize Gringotts to transfer your first month's salary to your account, Eric, and since you're working on a case for me, you'll also get the extra hundred Galleons for this week."

"Thank you very much, Sirius," said Eric gratefully. "I'll file your Animagus registration paperwork and then get started on the case right away. Good day." With that, he took his leave.

Remus visited the next day, confirming everything that Eric had said, and brought along a few photos of Harry, most of which also included Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, and a letter that Harry had written.

He had expressed his happiness that Sirius was free and recovering and the wish to get to know his godfather once St. Mungo's authorized his release. Harry then went on to talk about his new life with the Grangers, and his friendships with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, though he was closer to the first two as they would be attending Hogwarts at the same time as him. Hermione was like a sister to him and Ron a brother, and now that the weather was warmer, Ron was teaching them how to fly on a broom, with his parents taking turns supervising them. (Though it appeared that Harry was a natural at flying, seemingly having inherited his father's talent, so he didn't really need lessons.)

Harry added that as the Longbottoms had been friends with his parents, not to mention that his mother had been named Neville's godmother and both families had been allied with each other for long time, the adults were thinking of possibly including Neville and his grandmother in the secret. Mrs. Longbottom, who happened to be friends with Tristan's grandparents, was a trustworthy person, and it was only fair that the two god-brothers get to know each other before they started school.

While Frank Longbottom certainly hadn't been as close a friend to James the way the Marauders had been, the two had become pretty good friends while serving in the Order together. As for Alice, she had been one of Lily's close friends at Hogwarts, so Sirius agreed that it was only fair for Neville to meet Harry and possibly become part of the friend group. With the added fact that both couples had been affected by that prophecy, and that they'd named each other as guardians for their sons if their first choices couldn't take on the duty in their wills, it made even more sense.

Since Sirius couldn't be found to have the letter in his possession, he gave it back to Remus after reading it. "I'm glad that Harry's happy and has friends. Here, let me write a reply." Sirius wrote a letter, considerably shorter than Harry's, stating that he was happy to hear from his godson, was quite eager to get to know him and tell stories about his parents, and hoped that he continued to do well. At the end, he told Harry to call him 'Uncle Sirius' or 'Uncle Padfoot'.

"I'll make sure to pass on your letter to Harry," Remus promised when Sirius was done and handed the folded parchment over. "Ellie says that she thinks you can be released in a week or two, so we'll be waiting until then. Lia and the Grangers want your input on things, especially on whether or not to let Neville and his grandmother in on Harry's situation."

"I think it would be safe," said Sirius. "But we should wait until my release to fully discuss it. I need to really think it over." He and Remus then talked about other things, like what Remus had been doing for the past eight-and-a-half years, and then the visit ended.

The day before Sirius was to be released, Professor Dumbledore came by for a visit. He apologized for believing all the evidence that had made Sirius look guilty, though he also added, "Though if you or the Potters had told me about the switch in Secret-Keepers, or if you had just gone to me instead of chasing after Pettigrew, I would have helped you, Sirius."

Sirius glared at the headmaster. "Maybe I would have, except by that point, Lily and James didn't fully trust you. They didn't think you turned Dark or would stop opposing Voldemort, but they did think you would do anything to stop him. The same applied to the Longbottoms. Yes, they understood about the prophecy, which Lily and James told me about, by the way, but they figured that you would use it to make sure things turned out the way you wanted. Or if something happened to them, you would try to manipulate or guide Harry and Neville, or at least whichever one turned out to fit the prophecy."

"My boy, you misunderstand me," said Dumbledore, his eyes no longer twinkling. "And so did Lily and James, and Frank and Alice. Yes, I do want to stop Voldemort, but I wouldn't just use Harry or Neville to do so. Well, it would be Harry at this point, since it's clear that he's the one the prophecy referred to. What I mean is, I am working for the Greater Good, but that doesn't mean that I see Harry as a weapon to just be used and discarded once his purpose is fulfilled. Also, keep in mind that Voldemort is not dead, only weakened and without a proper body. I expect that someday he will return to power, and when that happens, he will go after Harry."

Sirius sighed, since he had figured something like that would eventually happen. After all, Voldemort fully believed in the prophecy (or at least in the part of it that he knew about), or he'd have never gone after Harry. Also, from what Remus had said about Harry, and based on the letter he'd written, he seemed to be the kind of boy that would see that justice was done. He wasn't interested in revenge (he'd mentioned that he still wasn't certain how he felt about his relatives being in prison, though he agreed that they deserved some sort of punishment), but he would want Voldemort to get some sort of punishment for killing his parents and all those other people in the war. If that meant defeating the Dark Lord once and for all, Harry would no doubt do it, even without the prophecy.

"All right, you have a point, Professor Dumbledore," Sirius conceded. "Now, since the Longbottoms are mentally unstable due to being tortured by my horrible cousin and her little group, I assume that Frank's mother has taken over care of Harry and Neville? Harry was to go to the Longbottoms if I proved unable to take him in, and their will stated that if anything happened to them, Neville was to go to his paternal grandmother. Since the attack happened a few weeks after Lily and James died…"

"Harry was sent to his relatives," Dumbledore corrected him. "Lily's sister and brother-in-law were perfectly capable of raising him, and they have a son of their own that's Harry's age. I set up –"

"WHAT!" shouted Sirius (using this as an excuse to show the anger he had to hide when Eric had first told him about it.) "James and Lily's will said specifically that under no circumstance was Harry to ever go to his aunt and uncle! They hate magic, and would hate Harry! James told me that his first meeting with, Petunia and Vernon I think their names were, turned out horribly, and though he promised Lily to make it up the next time they met, it never happened. The Dursleys only invited Lily and James to their wedding out of propriety, and after that, had nothing more to do with them! Why would you not carry out the will? You were a witness to it, so you have no excuse!"

"Calm down, Sirius," said Dumbledore. "As the attack on the Longbottoms showed, there were still Death Eaters at large following Voldemort's defeat. My main concern was Harry's safety, and since I believed you to be a traitor and the Longbottoms were still in hiding at the moment, I felt he would be safer with his relatives. Since Lily died to protect Harry, that allowed me to set up wards and other protective spells so long as he lived with his aunt, who shares his mother's blood. Also, living in the Muggle world would keep him away from all the fame. Besides, even if Petunia Dursley had a falling out with Lily, she still would love her sister, and take care of her nephew. Also, I installed Mrs. Figg in the neighborhood to keep an eye on Harry, and he seems to be doing well."

"You mean you had that Squib that breeds cats and kneazles and helped you out with some Order business during the war keeping an eye on Harry?" asked Sirius, feigning surprise. "Well, I hope she isn't so enamored of her cats and kneazles that she doesn't pay any attention to Harry."

"Don't worry about that," said Dumbledore. "Anyway, Harry is perfectly safe, and once he starts Hogwarts, you can spend time with him and allow him to get to know you."

"But – oh fine," Sirius grumbled. "But mark my words, if Harry turns out to have suffered during his time with his relatives, I will make you pay."

At that point, Healer Ellie came in. "I'm sorry, Professor Dumbledore, but I need to give Sirius one last mind-session before I can clear him for release tomorrow. So this visit is over."

"That's all right, Healer Vicks," Professor Dumbledore said with a smile. "Good-bye, Sirius. If you need to see me about anything, I am available. Just send me an owl and we'll set up a time to meet."

Once the headmaster had left, Sirius said, "Thanks for showing up when you did, Ellie. I wasn't sure if I could continue keeping up the pretense that I was clueless about Harry's situation."

"I figured something like that would happen," said Ellie. "I've certified you as ready for release tomorrow. All you need to do is sign this parchment agreeing to see me or another Healer once a week to make sure you're not going to relapse."

The next day, which was Sunday, Sirius was released after breakfast. Remus met him and Side-Along Apparated him to Diagon Alley, where he went down to Ollivander's to replace his old wand that had been snapped. Mr. Ollivander welcomed Sirius back into society, and after about ten minutes of trying wands, he got one of cedar, twelve-and-a-half inches, with dragon heartstring core. Sirius paid for the wand, thanked Mr. Ollivander for his help, and left the shop. Remus proceeded to Side-Along Apparate Sirius to the Granger home.

The first person that Sirius saw was his godson, who looked similar to a child James, except with his mother's eyes. Harry jumped up from the chair he was sitting on and after a second of hesitation, hugged his godfather. "Hello, Uncle Sirius. It's nice to meet you finally."

"Hello, Harry," said Sirius, returning the hug. "The last time I saw you, other than the photos Remus showed me, you were only one year old. You've grown so much since then. How are you?"

"I'm good," responded Harry. "I love my new life. Let me introduce you to everyone."

Sirius looked around the living room and saw a middle-aged couple that he assumed were the Grangers, a young woman of about twenty that he figured was Lia, and a boy and girl that were probably Ron and Hermione. Harry made the introductions.

Upon finally meeting Lia, Sirius felt a small spark between them as they shook hands. "Thank you so much for rescuing Harry and helping him with everything, Lia," Sirius said gratefully. "I know Mrs. Figg was the one that made the call to your office, but you took it upon yourself to investigate matters."

"I would have done the same for any child," Lia said modestly. "It's just that Harry's case made it imperative that I handle it, and not someone else, since he's a wizarding child. I care about children, especially in bad home lives, and will do anything I can to help them."

Sirius found himself strongly reminded of Lily, and recalled how, at the wedding, he wished that he could find a woman that was as strong and intelligent as her for himself (a far cry from the girls he had dated during his Hogwarts years, whose looks tended to exceed their brains). "Would you like to go out for a coffee or dinner sometime, Lia?" he blurted out. "I want to get to know you better. That is, if you're not seeing anyone."

Lia shook her head. "Nope, I'm currently single. The last person I dated was during my seventh year at Hogwarts, and I broke up with Brandon shortly after graduation since he couldn't understand why I insisted on working in the Muggle world rather than get a wizarding job."

"Well, I have no problem with your job," said Sirius. "Even if it didn't lead to your rescuing Harry, I'd still be fine with it. I think it's admirable that you want to help children. So are you fine with going out on a date with me? I know I'm like ten years older than you and-"

"Sirius, it's fine," Lia interrupted. "Your age doesn't matter to me, so long as you aren't years younger than me. I don't go for guys that are more than a year or two younger than me, and anyway, anyone more than three years younger than me would be underage right now." She smiled impishly and continued, "I get off work at five, and I don't have a large casework that requires me to work extra right now, so you can take me out anytime this week."

"Then how does six-thirty tomorrow sound?" asked Sirius. "That will give you time to go home and change."

"All right then, it's a date," said Lia.

Harry looked pleased with his development. "Goody! Miss Lia, if you get married to Uncle Sirius, can I call you 'Aunt'?"

Lia blinked in surprise. "Harry!" she exclaimed with a slight laugh, her cheeks turning pink. "It's just one date, so that we can get to know each other! If it goes well, then we'll see if we want to continue dating, or if we're just better off as friends. It's too soon to be thinking of marriage."

"But Roger and Anita got married soon after their first meeting, and so did Pongo and Perdita," Harry pointed out.

"Harry, this isn't a Disney movie," Lia said. "And _101_ _Dalmatians_ isn't real life. Though...Sirius, is your Patronus the same as your Animagus form?" Sirius nodded, and she said, "My Patronus is a dog, too. An Irish Terrier in fact, maybe because of my Irish ancestry. Anyway, I suppose Harry has something of a point." For Sirius's benefit, she explained that in the movie, Pongo and Perdita were Dalmatians, and that Pongo had set up the meeting between their owners Roger and Anita (via dragging Roger to the park on their daily walk) since he wanted them to find mates. Since Sirius (mostly to annoy his parents) was fairly knowledgeable about the Muggle world, and Lily had shown or taken the Marauders to a few movies, including a couple of Disney ones ( _The Rescuers, The Sword in the Stone,_ and _Pete's Dragon_ ), he knew what movies were.

"Well, if we're both dog people, then that's one thing we have in common," said Sirius, grinning. "Besides our mutual care of Harry, of course, and that we were both in Gryffindor."

Lia laughed. "Okay, Sirius. Since the main purpose is for you get to know Harry and his friends, why don't you go do that?"

The other adults, with the exception of Remus, left the room, and Sirius sat down with him and the trio and talked. Sirius was able to tell more stories about the Marauders and Lily, and the trio talked about their friendship and the things they were doing.


	8. Chapter 8

As the Ministry, especially Minister Bagnold, were eager to make it up to Sirius for his imprisonment, as soon as he and Eric showed up at the Ministry and asked for an appointment with Madam Bones or Minister Bagnold, they were immediately ushered to the former's office. When Madam Bones heard that the Potters' will, or at least the copy filed at the Ministry, had been sealed, she frowned deeply. "What reason would Dumbledore have to seal it? It doesn't make any sense. I'll speak with Minister Bagnold about getting it unsealed, since I don't think some people in the Wizengamot would accept the one that the Potters filed at a Muggle law firm as legal."

She sent a memo to Minister Bagnold, and she came down to the office ten minutes later to authorize the unsealing of the Potters' will. "I'm sorry about that, Mr. Black," she apologized. "At the time, there was a great deal of excitement over the end of the war, and when Albus Dumbledore suggested that the will be sealed to prevent any Death Eaters that escaped arrest from using it to cause mischief, I went along with it." She signed a note giving Sirius and Eric access to the will and allowing the person in charge of the files to unseal the will, and sent them on their way.

When the two returned to Madam Bones's office with the will and pointed out that Dumbledore had illegally placed Harry Potter with his relatives, she looked shocked. "Why would he do that, especially since you've just told me that they hate magic and would no doubt mistreat Harry in some way?" Eric and Sirius explained the reasons that Dumbledore had given, and she said, "Well, I suppose he has a point. But that still doesn't give him the right to go against the Potters' will and place Harry Potter with relatives that would resent him because he's magical. Since you are his godfather and appointed his guardian per the will, I authorize you to find him and remove him from his relatives. If they've been mistreating him, your lawyer can pursue charges against them. Since they're Muggles, I suppose it'll have to be done via Muggle court. That will prevent Dumbledore from interfering with it. And I will investigate it and if necessary, get him brought up on charges. The Minister will back me up."

"Thank you, Madam Bones," said Sirius sincerely. "You've been a great help."

"You're welcome, Mr. Black," she replied. "I am a great believer of fairness and justice, and with all the things that are going on or that I've found out lately, I'm disturbed. Especially with Dumbledore, based on what you showed me Lily and James Potter wrote in the codicil."

Sirius thanked her again, and then he and Eric left, as they had an appointment at Gringotts after this. Sliptooth, the goblin that had met with Harry, Lia, and the Grangers, handled this meeting as well. After Sirius and Eric explained that they were privy to Harry's situation and were his guardian and lawyer respectively (thanks to the new paperwork that Tristan had secretly filed naming Lia and Sirius as guardians), they got down to business. After looking over the Black bank statements and making a note of everything that Sirius had inherited, he turned down the money that he was entitled to for being Harry's guardian, and in fact transferred two thousand Galleons of the Black money to Harry's trust vault. Other than that, Harry's assets hadn't changed since his visit to the bank, other than five hundred Galleons being added to the Potter family vault from the family investments in February.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Sirius and Eric thanked Sliptooth for his help and left the bank. They went down the street to Madam Malkin's, as Sirius needed a completely new wardrobe, since he was currently wearing robes that Eric had lent him. While picking out a set of dress robes to wear to his date that evening, he was startled when his lawyer cleared his throat.

"Sirius Black, I apologize if I'm being presumptuous, and I realize that you can take offense and sack me as your lawyer for this, but I feel I must say this," Eric said very seriously. "I know Lia is perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but she's like a sister to me, and I don't want to see her hurt. So if you ever do anything that would greatly upset her, I will come to her defense, and so will Tristan and Ellie. And I know the Weasleys would do the same, since they consider her as part of their family."

Sirius didn't take offense with it. "I understand completely. Lily was like a sister to me, and I would have come to her defense if anyone hurt her. Including James, even though he was my best friend. Anyway, don't worry, I have no intention of hurting Lia. What I know about her I like, and she strikes me as a strong and intelligent woman, like Lily. I envied James, you know, for being lucky enough to land someone like her, and wished that I could find someone like that that was willing to be with me."

"I understand," said Eric with a smile. "That's my type also. Not Lia, because when we did try dating in sixth year, it felt too much like dating a sibling, and we mutually ended it. In fact, we ended it after our second date at Hogsmeade, when we kissed for the first time and realized that it felt unnatural."

Sirius chuckled at that. "That's too bad, but at least I don't have to worry about your feelings for Lia, since they're fraternal. I hope you do find the right person for you someday, Eric."

Eric shrugged. "I'm not in a huge rush, since I'm still young. I only just turned twenty-one. Why don't you wear those dark blue and silver robes, Sirius? I'm sure that they'll look good on you."

After a moment of consideration, Sirius decided that the robes were suitable, and added it to the pile of everyday robes he was buying. Once Madam Malkin and her assistant had measured him and made the necessary adjustments to the robes so that they'd fit him, he paid for the lot. With Eric's help, Sirius made his way to a clothing store in Muggle London and bought some casual Muggle clothes, plus one suit and three dress shirts to go with it.

With that done, he confirmed his reservation at the wizarding restaurant for seven o'clock that night, and went to Remus's flat (where he was currently staying until he found a place of his own or got the family home at Grimmauld Place suitable for habitation) to get ready for his date. Harry and Hermione were there, finishing up their homework, and pestered him with questions about his planned date.

"I'm just taking Lia to a wizarding restaurant," Sirius replied. "We'll have a good meal and get to know each other better. After that, Lia can show me around Hogsmeade so I can see if anything's changed. I haven't seen much of it besides the restaurant to make the reservation."

At exactly half past six, Sirius had Apparated to Lia's home and rang the doorbell. Lia, who had expected that Sirius would take her to a wizarding place since he needed to get used to the changes in the Muggle world first, had gotten dressed in sapphire blue dress robes after her shower. Instead of doing her hair in its usual knot, she had let it fall loose in waves, confined only with couple of blue hair clips to keep it out of her face. She wore the sapphire earrings her grandparents had given her for her thirteenth birthday and a simple silver bangle bracelet, and had on no cosmetics other than some pale blue eyeshadow and sparkly silver nail polish.

"You look beautiful, Lia," Sirius blurted out upon seeing her, almost dropping the bouquet of pink roses and stargazer lilies (Eric had told him that they were Lia's favorite flowers) he was holding. Not that he had thought her plain, as she had struck him as being quite pretty on their first meeting, but she looked even more beautiful dressed up and with her hair down. "Oh, these are for you."

"Thank you very much," said Lia, taking the bouquet with a pleased smile and sniffing the flowers. "I suppose Eric told you what my favorite flowers were? You look pretty handsome yourself." She moved aside to let him in, and then he followed her to the kitchen, where she filled a vase with some water and put the flowers in it. "So where are we headed for tonight?"

"I've got reservations for us at a restaurant in Hogsmeade," Sirius answered. "The Silver Birch."

"Ooh, it's a good thing I got dressed up then," said Lia, smiling. The Silver Birch was not a casual eating place the way that the Three Broomsticks or Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop (the places where Hogwarts students normally went to on dates) were, though it wasn't exactly a high-end, extremely fancy, and horribly expensive place either. She had never set foot there, but Ellie and Tristan had gone there twice for dates, once for Valentine's Day and the other on the second anniversary of their first date, and had told her all about the restaurant.

"Our reservations are at seven o'clock," said Sirius. He glanced at his watch and said, "We still have another twenty minutes before we need to Apparate over there."

"Then why don't I give you a tour of the house to kill some time?" Lia suggested. She led him out of the kitchen and showed him the dining room, living room, and study, and pointed out where the water closet was. She then led him upstairs and showed the three bedrooms. "That's the room I had when I was a girl. I know it doesn't look particularly feminine right now, but I had Harry stay in that room when I first rescued him, so I magically changed the colors to something more his taste."

After the tour, the two Apparated to Hogsmeade, and then walked down the street to the Silver Birch, arriving there about five minutes to seven. The maître d' greeted them, and while he had been the one to book the reservation, he obviously still had to hide surprise that not only was Sirius Black was out and about in public, but also with a date. As he showed the couple to their table in a secluded nook in the back, that had privacy spells built into it, the two other couples and one family that were also eating there noticed the new diners and began whispering about it.

A fairly pretty server in her mid-twenties came to the table, introduced herself as Olivia, and handed Sirius and Lia menus and took their drink orders. She came back a few minutes later with their drinks, and took their dinner orders, then whisked off to the kitchen to notify the house elves about the food.

After a few seconds of the two taking some sips of water, Sirius asked Lia about her biological family. "Oh, my parents were awful people, but my maternal grandparents were wonderful. Grandpa was a vicar before he retired, but he was very accepting of people, and had no problems with magic. He was the one that told me that Bible verse was really 'thou shalt not suffer a _poisoner_ to live', not 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live'. Grandmum was also very accepting of everyone too. She said that 'It's up to God to judge our souls, not other humans', and pointed out that Jesus Christ associated with people that were considered the dregs of society. They died during the summer after my third year at Hogwarts. I was really upset, but my friends helped me get over it, and so did Bill Weasley and his family. The Weasleys pretty much adopted me after that, and I spent my holidays with them, except when I was visiting my friends of course. I guess they were like how the Potters became your family?"

Sirius nodded. "My parents didn't actively abuse me, but they were narrow-minded like your parents were, only about pureblood supremacy instead of religion. They wanted me to be just like them, and were angry that I insisted on rebelling and being different, starting with being Sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. They didn't actually disown me until I ran away from home during the Christmas holidays of my fifth year. I had just turned sixteen and my parents were pressuring me to side with Voldemort and join his followers once I turned of age, or after I graduated. That was the 'last straw', I believe that's the term Muggles use, so I packed up my stuff and took the Knight Bus to the Potters."

"There, that's another thing we have in common," Lia said. "We both have biological parents that were narrow-minded and wanted us to fit the mold they had in mind for us, but we rebelled against that."

The two then began discussing their Hogwarts years, pausing only when the server came by to give them their soup course (lobster bisque), appetizer (fried calamari), and finally their entrees (steak, baked potato, and grilled mixed vegetables for Sirius and salmon and steamed vegetables for Lia) and pour the wine (red for Sirius, rose for Lia). Sirius was happy to find out that Lia had an excellent sense of humor, and admitted that his had been on cruel side (particularly when it came to Severus Snape) back during his Hogwarts years. He apologized for that, and added that he'd matured.

"Well, you were fighting in a war, so of course you matured," said Lia. "And I'm aware that your sense of humor, along with James Potter's, was a bit cruel at Hogwarts. I heard some of the stories that Remus told about the Marauders. As long as you're not like that, and acknowledge that you were wrong to act like that and are remorseful for it, I can accept it. But you should probably go seek out Professor Snape and apologize for your bullying of him. I know that he gave as good as he got, according to Remus, and probably started some of the incidents, but you still should apologize."

"Sniv – I mean Snape is a teacher?" Sirius asked, looking horrified.

Lia nodded. "He teaches Potions, and is the Head of Slytherin. He took over my first year of Hogwarts, after Professor Slughorn retired. From what I've heard about Professor Slughorn, I would have preferred to have him, but on the other hand, I wouldn't have wanted to be in his Slug Club. And since I'm talented and did well in school, I would have been exactly the kind of student he collected. But Snape was very knowledgeable about the subject, even if he did favor the Slytherins and loathed the Gryffindors. Though I didn't care much for his teaching style, which was basically 'Here is the potion you are to make today. Follow the directions on the chalkboard or in your textbook'."

Sirius made a face. "He didn't explain anything? Like how to prepare ingredients or what they did?"

Lia shook her head. "Well, during the first class, he did make some attempt to show how to prepare ingredients, but after that, he didn't do so. As for the theory behind Potions, that was reserved for our homework. All we did in class was brew potions and clean up after we were done."

"Well then, I wonder why Dumbledore keeps him on if he's such a poor teacher, despite all his Potions knowledge and talent," said Sirius. "Though at least he's not like Binns, who puts everyone to sleep."

Lia laughed at that. "That's true. I had difficulty staying awake in his class, and I _like_ history. I always found it fascinating, and my grandparents always said that learning history was important, because 'those that don't learn from history or doomed to repeat it'. After the first couple of months of his classes, I just gave up paying attention to Binns and instead read history texts on my own and took notes during class, and my friends all ended up doing the same."

"How did you become friends with them, and remain that way despite being in different houses?" Sirius asked curiously. "Friendships between all four houses are really rare."

"We met on the Hogwarts Express, of course," Lia answered. "We sat in the same compartment, and started talking. I had a pretty good idea of what the wizarding world was like from what Professor McGonagall told me and I'd picked up from the books my grandparents bought me for background reading, but I was eager to know more. Tristan was curious about the Muggle world, so he asked the rest of us about it. We pooled our money to buy snacks, which helped with the befriending process, and by the time we'd arrived we had sworn to be friends and remain that way even if we all ended up in different houses, which turned out to be the case. Well, Ellie and Eric didn't need the promise with each other, since they would have remained close due to being twins, but you get the idea."

"That's what the Marauders should have been like," Sirius said wistfully. "But instead one of our number turned out to be a traitor and caused the death of another. You're lucky to still have such good friends that would do anything for each other. Like the situation with –" He cut himself off, since it wasn't wise to discuss Harry's situation in a public place, even with a privacy spell, and replaced what he was about to say with, "Your work as a social worker."

Lia nodded. "True. But sometimes it does make things just a bit awkward. Ellie and Tristan are lucky enough to find love in each other, with no fuss over feeling like siblings, but both Eric and I have had some issues with girlfriends or boyfriends who don't quite understand our close friendship. Eric broke up with one girl who didn't understand that I was just a friend and that we saw each other as siblings and so issued an ultimatum that it was either her or me. Brandon didn't quite understand that Eric and Tristan were just friends and like brothers to me at first, either."

"Well, you don't need to worry about me ever being jealous of your friendships," Sirius assured her. "I want you to treasure them and have them for the rest of your life, Lia."

"Good," said Lia. "I'd hate to have to break up with you because you disliked my friends, Sirius." They then began discussing Lia's job, though she didn't go into great detail over cases she'd worked on, for confidentiality reasons. After that, they began discussing Sirius's plans for the future.

At that point, dessert (which was chocolate mousse and strawberry cheesecake) was served. As the server magically transported the dirty dishes to the kitchen, she blinked and reached out to brush the back of Sirius's chair. Something tiny flew up and away towards the door. "I'm sorry, Mr. Black," Olivia apologized. "There was a beetle on the back of your chair, for some reason. The spell that keeps out bugs and rodents must need renewing. I'll speak with the maître d' about that."

"It's all right," said Sirius. "As long as the beetle wasn't in our food, we're fine. When we're done with our dessert, could you please bring us the check, Miss Olivia?"

"Of course, Mr. Black," replied Olivia, sounding relieved that he wasn't making a fuss, and looking a bit pleased that he was so polite towards her.

When the check was brought over, Sirius would have paid for the meal entirely, but Lia, who pointed out that it wasn't fair to make him pay when this was just a 'getting to know each other' date, got him to allow her to pay for dessert and leave the gratuity (ten Galleons) for their server.

The two then went for a walk around Hogsmeade in the moonlight, partly to work off some of the food they'd eaten and partly so that Sirius could see if anything had changed about the village. Other than some of the families that lived there changing, nothing really had.

"Well, the Shrieking Shack has fallen into a state of some disrepair," Sirius commented. "But that's understandable, since Remus isn't using it anymore. Shall we go now?"

The two Apparated back to Lia's home. She invited him in for some tea, but he turned her town, reminding her that it was getting late and she had work in the morning. "But I enjoyed the time we spent immensely, Lia," he said. "Would you like to go on another date?"

"That would be wonderful," Lia responded warmly. "How does this Saturday sound? I'll set it up. We can go up to London and see a movie, and then have dinner at a Muggle restaurant. And I'll show you around Muggle London a bit so you can see what's changed, Sirius."

"It's a date," Sirius said with a grin. He kissed her on the cheek, since he didn't want to be too forward and kiss her on the lips when they had only just started dating, but she surprised him by tilting up her head and kissing him on the lips. After a second to get over his surprise, he returned the kiss, and when they broke apart seconds later, she smiled at him impishly.

"I wasn't too forward, was I?" she asked. "I had a feeling that you really wanted to kiss me properly, but was hesitant to do so, so I figured I'd make the first move."

"No, you weren't," Sirius answered, returning the smile. "I'll see you Saturday, Lia. Good-night."

"Good-night," Lia said, and then Sirius Disapparated out of the room and to Remus's flat.

* * *

Unfortunately, somehow the details of the date, including what Lia and Sirius had been talking about, had been found out, for there was an article in the magazine _Witch Weekly_ two days later about it, written by Rita Skeeter. She had started it with the information that Sirius had made a reservation for two at the Silver Birch for Monday evening, and showed up for it with an attractive young witch.

The article then went on to reveal who his date was, complete with the fact that she was Muggleborn and was working in the Muggle world as a social worker. This followed with what Lia and Sirius had eaten for dinner, and pretty much everything they had talked about, up to dessert. It then skipped over to the two of them walking around Hogsmeade and showing the sights, and ended with them Apparating away, with the implication that they might have then gone on to bedroom activities.

Questions were also brought up throughout the article, such as why Sirius's lawyer had introduced his friend, which was the only plausible way for Sirius and Lia to have met, what Lia could have done to charm Sirius into getting him to ask her out, and why they were dating in the first place. There was also speculation if Lia had ulterior motives for dating Sirius, as he was wealthy and a quite eligible bachelor since he'd found innocent, not to mention being the last of the Blacks.

As Sirius hadn't gotten any subscriptions to any kind of publications (other than the _Daily Prophet_ ) set up yet, and the only wizarding magazine that Lia subscribed to was _The Quibbler_ , neither one of them had any idea about the article until Mrs. Weasley (who did get _Witch Weekly_ ) notified them about it. Sirius immediately asked Mrs. Weasley for her copy of the magazine, and after reading the article, turned angry. He ranted about Rita Skeeter for a good ten minutes to Remus, and then Apparated over to Lia's house. Lia had gotten home from work an hour ago, and was trying to process her shock.

"Lia, I'm really sorry about this," said Sirius, falling to his knees. "I had no idea that Rita Skeeter found out the details of our date and published it. I wouldn't blame you if you decided that you didn't want to date me anymore, to prevent something like this from happening again."

"It's not your fault, Sirius," said Lia. "Now get up. I still want to date you, so you don't have to worry about that. However, we are going to have to figure out how Rita Skeeter found out the details of our date. The privacy charms on our nook in the restaurant should have prevented anyone from hearing us, and they renew the spells daily to prevent them from wearing off."

"And I know the Silver Birch prides itself on its sterling reputation, so they wouldn't have accepted any bribes to temporarily remove the privacy charms or set up some kind of listening spells," Sirius said thoughtfully. "At least there aren't any recording spells that work like the Muggle recording devices."

Lia nodded, since the only kind of recording spell worked like a Dictation Quill, recording whatever a person said in written format. "Well, there has to be some way for Ms. Skeeter to have overheard us. Wait, didn't Olivia the server say that there was a beetle on the back of your chair, Sirius?"

"Yes, she did," replied Sirius. A look of dawning realization appeared on his face. "That awful Skeeter woman must be an unregistered Animagus, like I was! She was the beetle on my chair, and was spying on us during our date! Oh, I am going to make her pay for this."

"Don't do anything rash," Lia warned him. "You've already served time in Azkaban for a crime you didn't commit. I don't want you going back there for something you do."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't do anything illegal," Sirius assured her. "I'll just confront Rita Skeeter about being an unregistered Animagus, and threaten to reveal her if she doesn't print another article that retracts all the things she implied about us and then never write any articles about us or anyone connected to us without clearing it with us first. Since I'm sure she doesn't want to be fined and serve some time in Azkaban, she'll be quite cooperative. If you have one of those Muggle recording devices to lend me, I'll use it to record our conversation to make sure she won't go back on her word."

"That'd be perfect," proclaimed Lia. She rummaged in a drawer and produced a tape recorder. After making sure that it still worked, she handed it to Sirius.

The confrontation the next day worked according to plan, and in the next issue of _Witch Weekly_ , there was an article retracting the previous one, with an apology for invading Sirius and Lia's privacy. There was also a note that stated that there was nothing going on except that they were a couple that was truly interested in each other, with no ulterior motives or anything.

After much deliberation, the adults in charge of Harry's welfare decided that it was safe to include Augusta Longbottom on the situation and bring Neville into the group of friends. Also, thanks to Madam Bones investigating Dumbledore's leaving Harry with his relatives and Sirius authorized to remove Harry and take him in, the whole situation was no longer completely under wraps.

While it wasn't known to the wizarding world at large, both Madam Bones and Dumbledore were now aware that Harry had been abused, it was reported to the Muggle Social Services, and he'd been removed from his relatives and placed in a loving foster home. Since the Dursleys' trial had been printed in both the Little Whinging and Surrey newspapers, there was absolutely no way for Professor Dumbledore to try to undo it, short of somehow placing Memory Charms on everyone that had read the papers or were otherwise in the know, which was impossible.

Madam Bones had unofficially reprimanded Dumbledore for his actions (since she knew that it would do no good to allow the public to know, as it would spark anger against Muggles). She also made it so that he could have no contact with Harry without his guardians present outside of Hogwarts, and when he did start, it could only be for school related matters and his Head of House had to be present.

Shortly after that, Millicent Bagnold left office and Cornelius Fudge was elected into her place as Minister of Magic (since Dumbledore, once again, declined the position). He was rather bumbling and a bit clueless at first, and would have pestered Dumbledore for advice, except Madam Bones stepped in to advise him. The Fawley family also used their influence to guide him in acting for the best interests of the wizarding world, and managed to talk him out of appointing Dolores Umbridge as the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. (Simply pointing out that her views could be disastrous for his image, and the family patriarch adding that he knew that she was hiding her family background, worked very well in that regard.) Madam Umbridge was furious when she heard, but couldn't do anything, since the Fawleys were well-connected and well-regarded, especially after Tristan was the one that convinced Madam Bones and ex-Minister Bagnold to grant Sirius a trial.

Anyway, Mrs. Longbottom was appalled to hear that Harry had been abused by his relatives. She knew that she could be rather strict towards her grandson, and admitted that she often wished that he could be more like his parents, but she still loved him dearly and would never dream of doing anything to hurt him physically. In fact, while she had been delighted that Neville had finally shown his first sign of magic, she had been furious with her brother Algie for dropping Neville out a window, even if it was an accident. After a shouting match with Algie for his behavior, she had thrown him out of the house, and now only spoke to him via his wife, Enid, whenever it was necessary to interact with him.

Since the Longbottom and Potter families had been allied with each other for the past two centuries, Frank and Alice and Lily and James had been friends, and Neville and Harry were god-brothers, Mrs. Longbottom gave permission for Neville to join the group of friends. She felt that perhaps he would bloom more among other children his age, and it would be good for him to make friends.

Neville was quite shy at first, but after getting to know the others, he opened up and soon became a firm part of the group. His confidence improved as his friends encouraged him. Luna Lovegood also ended up becoming part of the group, since she came across them playing one day in June, and after taking a note of things, went up to Harry and told him that she would keep his secret. Thereafter, she came over almost every day, only telling her parents that she had befriended the two youngest Weasleys and their friends, leaving Harry out of the picture.

In July, on the third anniversary of Tristan and Ellie's first date, he proposed. She happily accepted, and right after that, the two fire-called Lia and Eric and informed them of the development. Naturally, Lia was asked to be maid-of-honor, while Eric was to be the best man. The two accepted the roles, and plans were made for Tristan and Ellie to get married in October.

At the end of the month were Neville's and Harry's tenth birthdays. Mrs. Longbottom allowed Neville to have a party, and all his friends attended. Since he was interested in Herbology, Ron and Ginny gave him two packets of seeds, Hermione gave him a book on plants native to England, Harry gave him a set of good quality gardening tools, and Luna gave him a cutting of a Dirigible Plum bush.

The following day was Harry's first ever birthday party. Since he wanted to go flying, it was held at the Burrow, as the Weasleys back yard and orchard was suitable for it so long as nobody flew too high. He no longer had to ride the training broom, as Sirius had bought him a Comet Two Sixty back in May.

Mrs. Weasley made the cake, and Mrs. Granger (or Aunt Michelle as she asked Harry to call her) made ice cream sweetened with honey rather than sugar. Lia made treacle tart (Harry's favorite dessert). The kids, even Percy (who was a competent flyer but didn't care to play Quidditch, though he enjoyed the sport) and Neville (who had only learned to fly three months ago), had a game of Quidditch. Since there were only ten players, they only had one beater and two chasers on each time. For Harry's team, he played Seeker, and chose Ron as Keeper, Hermione and Ginny as Chasers, and George as Beater. For the other team, Charlie was appointed captain, and he played Seeker, Fred was Beater, Luna and Neville were Chasers, and Percy was Keeper. Since Ginny was really good as Chaser and Hermione proved to be fairly decent, they scored more often than Luna and Neville, especially as Percy wasn't as good as Ron at being Keeper. However, Charlie's team ended up winning by fifty points, as he (due to having a longer reach) narrowly beat Harry to the Snitch.

"If you were around my age, you'd have beaten me to the Snitch, Harry," Charlie said with a grin. "You should try out for one of the school Quidditch teams after you start Hogwarts. It'll have to be in your second year, since first-years can't have brooms, but you're good enough to make it on a team."

After the game were the food and the opening of presents. Sirius's gift was tickets to the Chudley Cannons-Montrose Magpies Quidditch match next week for Harry and his friends, with Sirius and Remus chaperoning. Lia's gift was the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy and _The Hobbit_ , and Remus's was a photo album of pictures of Lily and the Marauders. The Grangers gave Harry all the books currently out in the _Redwall_ series (a book series that he'd just gotten into) and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave him a box of fudge and a red, green, and gold scarf. Ellie, Eric, and Tristan had gotten together to get him a set of books on the potions that the Potter family had invented and a potions kit. Charlie gave Harry a pair of Seeker gloves, and Percy gave him a book on European Quidditch teams. Fred and George gave him a small box of prank items, and Ginny and Ron gave him a box of chocolate frogs and a set of Gobstones. Hermione gave him a journal, Neville gave him a wizarding chess set, and Luna gave him a dreamcatcher she had made, to help him have good dreams and not nightmares (the only thing that bothered him, as he had otherwise healed completely from his time with his relatives). Bill was unable to take time off from work, but he sent his gift, a scarab encased in an amber pendant and a book on Egyptian mythology. Mrs. Figg hadn't attended either, but she sent a card and a figurine of a ginger cat that looked a bit like Crookshanks. Finally, Professor McGonagall had dropped by for a few minutes, and she gave Harry a book on Transfiguration.

At the Quidditch match the next week, Harry had a slight Glamour Charm put on him, enough to hide his distinctive scar and have his eyes appear as blue, not green. In addition, he also wore a Chudley Cannons hat so that if the Glamour Charm unexpectedly wore off, his scar would still be hidden. Since Harry, Hermione, and Neville hadn't decided on any Quidditch team to support yet, they decided to join Ron in cheering on the Cannons. Ginny's team was the Holyhead Harpies, but as they weren't playing in this match, she joined the others in supporting the Cannons.

While the Cannons played valiantly, the team's performance was rather poor, especially their Keeper, who let many goals through and only managed to block twice. In the end (after an hour), the Magpies' Seeker caught the Snitch, winning the match for his team, three hundred and fifty points to ninety. Ron looked rather crushed at his team's defeat, but cheered up when Sirius revealed that he'd bought special tickets that enabled them to meet the players. Getting to meet his favorite team in person made him feel that he was in Heaven, and he almost fainted in delight when the Cannons players thanked him for his support and autographed one of his team posters .

Harry hid his identity by using his middle name and his mother's maiden name when meeting the teams and getting their autographs (though the autographs from the Magpies was more for Professor McGonagall, as she mentioned at the birthday party that it was the team she supported). He had enjoyed the match thoroughly, as reading about the game in _Quidditch Through the Ages_ and playing informal pick-up matches on his own wasn't the same as seeing a professional match. Since he'd been told that he was very talented at Quidditch, he started considering the possibility of playing Quidditch professionally. (Before that, the only wizarding careers he'd thought about pursuing were becoming a Potioneer like several of his ancestors, or helping people as a lawyer like Eric was doing.)

* * *

Sirius, who insisted on paying back all those that had helped Harry, convinced the Weasleys to accept a deposit in their Gringotts account. They thought it would just be a few hundred Galleons, but were shocked when they went school shopping and discovered that ten thousand Galleons had been added to their vault. A query to the goblins proved it wasn't a mistake, and when they tried to return most of the money to the Black family vault, were informed that Sirius had left orders that the only deposits were to be from him or the returns from the family investments.

When the Weasleys spoke to Sirius about it, he refused to take back the money. "Look, the money I gave you was part of what the Ministry gave me as recompense. No amount of money can give me back the time I was imprisoned in Azkaban and resulted in my missing out on raising Harry. I'd rather the money be put towards good use, and giving it to people that deserve to have it will do so."

Finally Mr. and Mrs. Weasley reluctantly accepted the money. Not that they were going to waste it on frivolities, but they could at least stop being so frugal and make improvements on the Burrow, buy all their children new things instead of having them make do with secondhand items or hand-me-downs, and occasionally splurge on some small things.

Sirius had also given Remus ten thousand Galleons, and the rest of his recompense money he had split between Mrs. Figg, Ellie, Eric, and Tristan. Knowing that no amount of persuasion would convince Lia to accept money from him, he had instead bought two sets of jewelry, one set with sapphires and the other with rubies, and gave them to her after six months of dating. He had also bought a ring, a gold one set with a ruby on either side of a diamond, and after dinner, proposed to her.

"Lia, I know we've only been together six months, but I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone except you," Sirius said. "So would you do me the great honor of marrying me?"

Lia pretended to think it over. "Hmm, I don't know. It's not much of an honor." Seeing his hurt look, she burst out laughing and said, "I'm joking, you prat! Of course I want to marry you! There's no one else that I'd rather be with for the rest of my life. You should see the look on your face, Sirius!"

After taking a second to process that she'd played a prank on him, he laughed as well. "I love you, Lia. We'll have many more laughs in the future, I hope." He slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her. They decided that since Ellie and Tristan had gotten engaged first, they would wait until after the two had their wedding. Remus would be best man, and Ellie would be maid-of-honor, even though she would be married then. Professor McGonagall would be matron-of-honor, Hermione and Ginny would be bridesmaids, and Harry, Tristan, and Eric would be groomsmen. (Sirius wanted all of Lia's friends to be part of the wedding party, and anyway, he'd become friends with them too.) As neither of them knew any children under the age of nine, they decided not to have a flower girl or ring bearer.

When Lia and Sirius announced their engagement, Harry asked, "So can I call you 'aunt' now, Lia?"

"Yes you can, Harry," said Lia with a laugh. "And since we're getting married, we can adopt you."

Harry thought it over for a minute. "Can that wait until after the school year is over, Aunt Lia? I would love to have you and Uncle Sirius adopt me, but you don't live in the same town and that means I'd have to switch schools. Once I start Hogwarts it won't matter."

"Of course, Harry," said Lia and Sirius in understanding.

After that, wedding preparations were discussed among the adults, and the date was set for April 20th of next year, as Lia had always wanted a spring wedding.


	9. Chapter 9

By the time the Christmas holidays arrived, Sirius (with Eric's help) had finished his self-assigned task of tracking down the descendants of the disowned members of the Black family (besides his cousin Andromeda, whom he made up with and reinstated into the family, along with her husband and daughter). Unfortunately, he was still the last person of the family to carry the Black family name, and it would remain that way until he married Lia and they had children of their own.

In the case of Iola and Cedrella Black (the first disowned for marrying a Muggle named Bob Hitchens and the second for marrying Septimus Weasley), they naturally took on their husbands' names. In the former case, research showed that Iola and Bob had three children, a boy and two girls, and moved to Canada. One of the girls was a Squib, but the other two had magical talent, and attended Ilvermorny, the North American school of magic. Their current descendants lived in Canada and the United States, and appeared to be doing well, so there really wasn't any need for Sirius to contact them.

The latter case didn't require research, since Cedrella and Septimus were Arthur Weasley's parents. Sirius just acknowledged the entire Weasley family as his cousins, and said that his marriage would make Lia related to them via marriage.

Of the other disowned members, his Uncle Alphard had never married nor had children. Phineas Black, son of Phineas Nigellus Black (a disliked Headmaster of Hogwarts), had been disowned for being a champion of Muggle and Muggleborn rights and only had two daughters. Both had taken their husbands' names, and of their current living descendants, Eric and Ellie Vicks were two of them. Both weren't all that surprised to find that they were related to the Blacks, since all wizarding families, in Britain anyway, were related, but they hadn't expected the connection to ever be acknowledged, considering how distant it was now. Still, Sirius was quite happy to call them his cousins.

The final disowned member was Marius Black, who was disowned for being a Squib. Since there were pureblood families that were known for doing drastic things (Thaddeus Thurkell had transfigured his Squib sons into hedgehogs, and another wizard had actually killed his Squib daughter), Marius likely would have suffered something similar after his failure to receive a Hogwarts letter. Luckily for him, his sister Dorea (who had married Charlus Potter, a cousin of Harry's grandfather) helped him escape the house and get to their Uncle Phineas (the one disowned for supporting Muggle rights). Marius had eventually settled in the Muggle world and married a Muggle woman, having one son and a daughter. That son, however, only had a daughter, who had married a man named Hugh Creevy and had two sons, Colin and Dennis. Lia had recently visited to tell them about the wizarding world (as they were on the list of Muggleborn students, with Colin to be in Ginny and Luna's year).

Since the prevailing theory was that Muggleborns were merely the descendants of Squibs that had married Muggles (though some pureblood families denied this), this was just further proof that the theory was correct. Sirius accompanied Lia on her next visit to the Creevy family, and explained the family connection with the aid of the evidence that Eric had helped dig up for him. Mrs. Creevy had no idea about the wizarding world, as her grandfather Marius hadn't mentioned it, but she did know that he had been estranged from his family, so Sirius's revelation wasn't too big a shock. She allowed Sirius to acknowledge Colin and Dennis as his cousins (though it was distant cousins), and accepted his offer of sponsorship when the two started Hogwarts (but not an offer to pay for their supplies). Mr. Creevy might not make a great deal of money as a milkman, but they weren't poor either, and they were quite able to pay for their sons' school supplies without having to resort to secondhand things.

Meanwhile, per Lia's request, Sirius and Remus had contacted Snape and apologized, the former for bullying him back in school, and the latter for not trying to do more to stop his friends and turning a blind eye on things. The so-called prank of Sirius telling Snape how to get past the Whomping Willow and into the secret passageway to the Shrieking Shack was also brought up.

"Look, I had no intention of getting you killed or injured by Remus," Sirius said. "It's just that I got fed up by your prying your nose into our business, and was afraid that you'd tell the whole school that Remus was a werewolf. So partly in revenge, but mostly so that Professor Dumbledore would have to force you to keep Remus's condition a secret, I told you how to get past the Whomping Willow. After I told James what I had done, he realized that I'd sent you into danger, and ran off to rescue you. My plan to have Dumbledore realize you knew about Remus's condition and get you to keep it secret worked, but I realize that the way I went about it was wrong. I'm really sorry about that."

"And I had no idea about it until the morning after," Remus said. "I was quite angry with Sirius, until he explained his reasoning, but even then, it took me some time to forgive him. Sirius had to go quite a bit of groveling and making up to James and me before we were all friends again. I am very sorry for my part in things, and I wish I had done more to rein in my friends."

"The point is, I'm ashamed of my behavior, and I want to apologize and do something to make it up to you, Snape," said Sirius. "I don't expect us to be friends, considering the history we have, but I would like it if we could at least be on civil terms. You were friends with Lily, which means you couldn't have been that bad a bloke, at least until your falling out with her. So for her sake, could we make up?"

Severus Snape regarded the two men coldly, then said reluctantly, "All right, for Lily's sake, I will accept your apologies, Black and Lupin. But that does not mean I forgive you for all that you put me through while we were in Hogwarts. As you said, there is too much history between us. However, I will bury the hatchet, and we will be civil to each other if we should ever interact again. Now, can you tell me what is going on with the Potter boy? I heard Minerva shouting at Dumbledore over his placement of the Potter boy with his relatives, and that you should have gotten custody of him, Black."

Sirius and Remus exchanged looks, then the latter said, "Harry was being abused by his relatives. His cousin bullied him, he was forced to wear his cousin's castoffs, half the time he didn't get anything to eat, was given many chores and then beaten with a belt by his uncle whenever fault was found with him, and made to sleep in a cupboard instead of his assigned bedroom. In contrast, his cousin was a spoiled brat, allowed to get his way in pretty much anything, and overweight."

Snape looked shocked to hear that Harry's childhood was like his own, only worse, since he had slept in a proper bedroom, not a cupboard, and his mother had made sure that he'd had enough to eat. She had also done her best to protect him from his father's rages, at least when the two weren't fighting to the point that neither of them noticed anyone else. "I knew that Petunia was jealous of Lily and grew to hate magic because of that, but I never thought that she'd abuse her own nephew!"

Sirius and Remus looked startled, before recalling that Lily had once told them that Snape had grown up in the same town as her and had been the one to tell her that she was a witch. "Well, she might not have actively abused Harry, besides making him sleep in a cupboard and denying him food, but she had no problem with having her husband beat Harry and her son bullying him," Sirius said darkly. "Fortunately, Mrs. Figg, the Squib that was assigned to keep an eye on Harry, had enough and called Social Services. Your remember Cornelia Killian? Well, Lia had decided to work in the Muggle world as a social worker, and was the one to get the call and investigate things. She rescued Harry and had the Dursleys arrested for child abuse. They had a trial last April, and were both sentenced to time in a Muggle prison. Harry is currently living with the Grangers, a Muggle family that has a daughter who is a witch, but Lia and I plan on adopting him this summer. We're getting married in April."

Snape blinked at this turn of events. "I am aware that Miss Killian planned to work in the Muggle world, and I am grateful that she did, since it led to her rescuing Harry Potter. However, why in the name of Merlin would she be marrying you, Black? I thought she had more sense than that."

Sirius scowled. "I told you, Snape, I've matured. Fighting in the war helped me grow up, and the eight and a half years I spent in Azkaban finished it. I know my past behavior to you was wrong, even if took Lia telling me I ought to apologize for my behavior to make me realize I should do so. Besides, Lia has a sense of humor too, it just wasn't ever as cruel as mine was. And after James married Lily, I've wanted to find someone of my own who was as strong and intelligent as Lily was, and would be my life-mate and partner. I found her in Lia, and she thinks the same of me."

"I suppose you have matured, Black," Snape grudgingly conceded. "Well, then, pass on my regards to Miss Killian. She reminded me of Lily, since she was Muggleborn, in Gryffindor, was very clever, and did well in my class. And one of her closest friends was a Slytherin, though Mr. Vicks didn't make the same mistake I did and have a falling out with her that ended their friendship."

"I will do that," Sirius said. "Lia said that she admired your potions knowledge and thought you brilliant, though she didn't much care for your teaching style. For older students, saying, 'This is the potion you will be working on today. Follow the directions on the board or in your Potions text' is fine, but for younger students, you need to demonstrate how to prepare the ingredients and such. And it would be better to devote some class time towards the theory and not leave it all for homework."

"Humph," muttered Snape. "I shall teach Potions however I see fit. But I suppose she has a point about making sure that the first-years know how to prepare ingredients before they start brewing. Then maybe I'll have fewer dunderheads that don't know what they're doing and blow up cauldrons."

"Well, thank you for taking the time to hear us out, Snape," Remus said. "Have a good holiday."

Sirius echoed what his friend said, and then the two left.

* * *

In January, unfortunately, Pandora Lovegood, Luna's mother, had one of her spell experiments go wrong, exploding and injuring her. Even though Ellie and four other Healers in the Spell Damage floor of St. Mungo's did everything they could, the magical injuries were too severe, and she eventually died after saying her good-byes to her husband and daughter. Xenophilius Lovegood went into deep grief over it, and only coped by burying himself in his work and clinging on to Luna. Luna, meanwhile, was less sad. While she certainly grieved over her mother's loss, she also believed that her mother was watching over her in the afterlife, and that one day far into the future, they would reunite.

Neville, who had experienced the death of his grandfather back when he was eight, was the only one of the group of friends who understood Luna's loss. While Harry had lost his parents, he didn't have any memories of them or their deaths, other than flashes of green light that was the Killing Curse, and none of the others had ever experienced the deaths of close family members. It fell upon Neville, with the help of the adults, to comfort Luna, while the others just sympathized with her for her loss. Over time, she healed, and helped her father heal as well, until by March, she was almost back to normal.

Meanwhile, after realizing that their original wedding date would mean that the Weasley children at Hogwarts wouldn't be able to attend, unless they got permission to leave school for the day, Sirius and Lia moved it up to April 1st, during the Easter holidays. Since some of Lia's co-workers (the ones she was friendly with) were invited, the wedding and reception would be completely Muggle ones, with the males in tuxes and the females in formal dresses, not dress robes.

Lia decided to wear her grandmother's wedding dress, altered a bit to fit her and look slightly more modern (and would count as the 'something old'). Mrs. Weasley had persuaded Great-Aunt Muriel to lend her goblin-made tiara for the 'something borrowed', and Lia was going to wear the set of sapphire jewelry that Sirius had given her as the 'something blue'. For the 'something new', Ellie gave her a new pair of white high-heeled shoes with a design of pearls and white silk roses on the toes.

The men in the wedding party were wearing black tuxes with silver and midnight blue accents. Ellie, as maid-of-honor, and Professor McGonagall, as matron-of-honor, wore sapphire blue gowns with silver embroidery, and Hermione and Ginny, as bridesmaids, wore pastel blue dresses. Mr. Weasley gave Lia away, as he had been her _de facto_ father for the past eight years.

The guests consisted of the Grangers, Weasleys, Tonkses, Creevys, the immediate families of Lia's friends, Hagrid (both the Marauders and Lia's group of friends had been friends with him), and her co-workers. The vicar conducting the ceremony was a protégé of Lia's grandfather. Sirius and Lia said the vows that they had composed, and then exchanged rings and kissed.

Since Hagrid definitely stuck out, he spent the reception socializing with the guests that were either magical or knew about the wizarding world, avoiding Lia's co-workers and doing his best to not mention anything related to magic within their earshot. A good portion of his time was spent with Harry and his friends, telling them stories about Harry's and Neville's parents' time at Hogwarts, and adding a few about Ron and Ginny's parents.

After the cutting of the cake, Lia got up to throw the bouquet. All the unmarried women and girls gathered in a group on the dance floor, and Lia stood on the dais, her back to them. She tossed the bouquet of white roses and bluebells over her shoulder. There was jostling, but the bouquet landed in the arms of Nymphadora Tonks (who preferred to go by Dora or her surname), Sirius's cousin. She was so startled to have actually caught the bouquet that she accidentally dropped it. There were some chuckles at this, and Hermione picked up the bouquet and handed it back to Tonks.

"So, you'll be the next one to get married, Dora," Sirius said, chuckling. "Are you dating anyone?"

Tonks blushed, and if it weren't for the Muggles present, probably would have changed the color of her hair. "Sirius! That's none of your business. But if you must know, I'm single right now."

"All right, I'll stop pestering you," said Sirius. He went to do the new custom of throwing the bride's garter, and of all the single men and boys present, Remus ended up catching it. He promptly turned pink and shoved the garter at Eric in an attempt to pretend that the younger man had caught it, but Eric stepped back, looking amused.

"Don't try to pretend you didn't catch it, Remus," he said. "Besides, it doesn't mean that you'll be the next guy to get married, or that you'll end up marrying Tonks because she caught the bouquet."

Remus flushed even more, for Tonks had only just turned eighteen, and dating her (even if they had known each other well) would feel inappropriate considering their age difference.

The day after the wedding, Lia and Sirius went on their honeymoon in France for two weeks. They returned with souvenirs for everyone, and looked very happy and content. The two settled in Lia's house, as Sirius had no desire to live in the family home (even though he'd gotten it cleaned up) and it would be more convenient for her job.

In the middle of June, the school year ended, and that was when Sirius and Lia formally adopted Harry. He moved from the Grangers and settled in the bedroom that he had initially stayed in when Lia had first rescued him. He was a bit sad to no longer live with Hermione, but considering that he still saw her pretty much every day, and would be with her at Hogwarts, it wasn't so bad.

As Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville would be starting Hogwarts that year, the four started talking about what house they would end up in. They had all agreed that no matter what house they ended up in, they would still remain friends, like Lia's group of friends had done, though they ideally wanted to be in the same house. Other than that, they didn't particularly care what house they ended up in. Even Slytherin would be fine, as they could just use it as an opportunity to change its reputation for the better (though the chances of Hermione being Sorted there was very slim). Well, Harry didn't really want to be in Gryffindor, simply because he suspected that Professor Dumbledore wanted him to be in that house as part of the plans for him. Being in a different house would further put a kink in the plans, though if Harry didn't have to worry about it, he would be happy to be in the same House as his parents.

In the middle of July, the Hogwarts letters arrived. Plans were made for them all to go get their school supplies on July 31st, as part of Harry's and Neville's birthday celebrations.

Author's Note: Since Muggleborns are the descendants of Squibs that integrated into the Muggle world, I decided to have that happen within the Black family. As I didn't want to go the obvious route of having Hermione be the descendant, I decided to have Colin and Dennis Creevy be the ones instead. Thanks goes to reviewer Syed, who inspired me to choose the Creevys for this when he mentioned something like this in a review.


	10. Chapter 10

On July 31st, Harry went downstairs for breakfast to see that the table was piled with presents. Since his friends wouldn't be giving him their presents until later that day, at his birthday lunch, he knew that most of them could only be from Sirius, who had a tendency to spoil him at times. A quick count proved that he had twenty presents, twelve labeled as from Sirius and Lia, and the remaining eight labeled as from Remus, Professor McGonagall, and Lia's friends.

"Thanks for the gifts, Uncle Sirius and Aunt Lia, but did you have to get me so many?" Harry asked.

"It's not every day that a boy turns eleven and is old enough to attend Hogwarts," Sirius said.

"And you deserve to get spoiled occasionally," Lia added. "You haven't had a normal childhood for most of your child years, and being spoiled once in a while isn't going to turn you into a brat. You can start opening up your presents while Sirius and I finish making the pancakes and bacon."

It took some time to open all the presents. From Sirius and Lia he got a Nimbus Two Thousand broom, a set of emerald green dress robes, three books on the Montrose Magpies, Wimbourne Wasps, and Appleby Arrows Quidditch teams, a box of joke products, a watch, a wand holder, the latest _Redwall_ book, the book _The Simarillion_ , a camera, and a journal with ruby red covers. From Remus were a cauldron, three glass stirrers, and a set of crystal phials. Tristan and Ellie had given him a potions kit and a journal, this one with emerald green covers, to record his potion notes in. Eric gave him a box of various sweets and a practice Snitch, and Professor McGonagall gave him a copy of _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_ (which meant he didn't have to buy it).

After unwrapping the last present, Harry got up and hugged his guardians. "Thanks for all the gifts," he said with a grin, making a note to send thank-you notes to the other gift-givers, other than Remus, who would get a thanks in person, since he was going to be part of the Diagon Alley trip today.

"You're very welcome," said Sirius, who then magically moved all the gifts into a box and transported it to Harry's room so that there'd be room for the food, which was now done cooking.

After breakfast and the washing up of the dishes, the three Flooed to Diagon Alley. Mrs. Longbottom and Neville were waiting in the Leaky Cauldron, though they'd only arrived a couple of minutes ago. A few minutes after that, the Grangers and Remus came in, and the Weasleys Flooed in shortly after that. Everyone wished Harry and Neville a happy birthday, and started their way towards the back. However, they were hampered by Hagrid spotting them and coming over. As soon as he said Harry's name, the other patrons in the pub turned to look, and in a very short time they were crowding around the group to say hello and shake Harry's hand. He was very uncomfortable with all this attention, even though he'd been warned that he would be getting it due to his fame.

After Professor Quirrell, a very nervous and stuttering young man who introduced himself as the Defense Against Dark Arts professor, had shaken his hand and explained why he was visiting Diagon Alley, Sirius put an end to all the attention. "Excuse me, but while I realize that my godson is quite interesting to you all, he and his friends have their school things to buy," he said loudly.

Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time and the crowd of people reluctantly dispersed.

"Sorry abou' that," Hagrid said as they walked out to the back courtyard. "I shouldn't have said yer name so loudly when I saw yeh, Harry, and got th' other people to realize ye were there."

"It's all right, Hagrid," said Harry. "You didn't know that would happen. Why are you here?"

"Professor Dumbledore asked me ter pick up somethin' fer him at Gringotts," Hagrid replied, looking proud over his mission, though he wasn't quite as worshipful of the headmaster after finding out what had happened to Harry. "An' I wanted ter get yeh and Neville a present, since it's yer birthdays. How does an owl fer each of yeh sound?"

"That sounds great, Hagrid," said Harry enthusiastically, since he didn't really have a pet of his own at the moment, as Crookshanks got along better with Hermione than him.

"An owl would be nice, Hagrid, but I've already got a pet," said Neville, looking regretful. "My Great-Uncle Algie gave me a toad, partly as a birthday present and partly as a reward for getting my letter."

"Then I'll get yeh somethin' else fer yer present," Hagrid said. "Let me think on it."

"Well then, it looks like Lia and I don't have to get you an owl, Harry," said Sirius. "We were planning on having you and Hermione pick one out today, so that the two of you wouldn't have to use the school owls to send your mail, or borrow my owl."

Lia tapped the proper brick on the wall in the courtyard with her wand, and the wall shifted into an archway that was the entrance to Diagon Alley. The entire group set for Gringotts. The Grangers went to a counter to exchange their Muggle pounds for Galleons, Hagrid went to the main counter to see about his business for Hogwarts, and the others got into carts to withdraw money from their vaults.

Harry, Lia, and Sirius went to the Black family vault, where Sirius withdrew one hundred Galleons. After that, they went to Harry's trust vault, and allowed him to withdrew some money, though it was to function as his pocket money, as his guardians had made it clear that it was their job to pay for necessities like his school supplies. Since Sirius and Lia already gave him pocket money, Harry only withdrew twenty Galleons, which would more than pay for a gift for Hermione's birthday in September.

Once everyone had money, the entire group headed for Madam Malkin's for school robes. Harry was first to be measured for robes and he found that he was sharing the time with a blond boy with a pale, pointed face that was (from Sirius's descriptions) probably the Malfoy heir.

"Hello," said the boy. "Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes," replied Harry.

"My father's next door buying my books and Mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy in a bored, drawling voice.

"Why is your mother looking at wands?" asked Harry. "Does she need a new one? She can't be looking for one for you, because the wand chooses the wizard."

"I know that," the other boy retorted, his cheeks turning slightly pink. "Mother's just looking to see what wands are available for me. Anyway, I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms after I'm done here. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully Father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

Harry raised a brow and was strongly reminded of Dudley, before (according to Lia's co-worker that was in charge of him) he'd gotten an attitude adjustment at the foster home he was living in.

"Have _you_ got your own broom?" the boy went on, sounding as if he expected the answer to be 'no'.

"Yes, I do," Harry replied. "In fact, I have two. A Comet Two Sixty and a Nimbus Two Thousand."

"You have a _Nimbus Two Thousand_?" demanded the other boy, almost gaping.

Harry nodded. "My godparents gave it to me today, for my birthday."

A look of jealousy briefly crossed the boy's face. "I suppose you play Quidditch then."

"Yes," said Harry. "I'm told I'm not bad at it." He didn't mention that he was actually very good at it, since he didn't want to sound like he was bragging, and wasn't the type to go on about his skills.

"Hmm," said the boy. "I play Quidditch too. Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my House, and I must say, I agree. Know what House you'll be in yet?" "No," Harry said.

"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been – imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

"Hufflepuff is a great house," Harry said indignantly. "My godmother's friend, Tristan Fawley, was in that house, and so was his sister Seraphina. And there's been several well-known Hufflepuffs. The first female Minister of Magic, Artemisia Luftkin, and the Arithmancer Bridget Wenlock were in that house."

"Bridget Wenlock was in Ravenclaw," the other boy said.

"No, she was in Hufflepuff," Harry said. "Uncle Tristan gave me a biography on her last Christmas. Maybe if you'd read more, you'd have known that, and not thought she was a Ravenclaw."

"I have better things to do than read biographies about useless Hufflepuffs. And it looks like you'll be one of them, if you're defending Hufflepuff."

"Hufflepuffs aren't useless," snapped Harry. "You wouldn't consider the Fawleys to be useless, would you? They've got quite a bit of influence, and many of them were in Hufflepuff."

The other boy didn't have a retort for that, for the Fawleys were quite influential. He looked around and spotted the waiting group. "I say, look at that crowd of people waiting!"

"Those are my godparents, my friends, and their families," Harry said.

"Oh," said the boy. "Why are your godparents with you? Where are your parents?"

"They're dead," Harry said shortly, stifling his annoyance with the boy.

"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. "But they were _our_ kind, weren't they?"

"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean," replied Harry, gritting his teeth.

The other opened his mouth to say something further, but then happened to take a second look at the group and frowned. "Judging from the red hair and freckles, you're friends with the Weasleys?"

"Yes I am," Harry said defiantly. "They're wonderful people, and I like them very much."

The boy looked disgusted, but then gasped. "Is that Sirius Black? What's he doing here?"

"He's my godfather," Harry said. As the other boy processed this information, Madam Malkin told Harry that he was done with his fitting, and glad of an excuse to end the conversation, he hopped off the footstool and made his escape before the other realized he was Harry Potter.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Sirius asked, seeing the annoyed look on his godson's face.

"I think I just met Draco Malfoy," Harry answered, He summarized the conversation.

"Yes, that's Draco," said Sirius, making a face. "Here, let's go cheer you up." He took Harry to Florean Fortescue's and bought him an ice cream cone. When his friends joined them after their robe fittings were over, Sirius bought then ice cream cones as well, and then they went to Flourish and Blotts.

Predictably, Hermione got some extra books in addition to her school books. After that, they went to the Apothecary. As Harry already had a well-stocked potions kit, thanks to Tristan and Ellie, he didn't have to buy any ingredients, and waited while the others got their potions supplies. The same held true when it came to buying cauldrons and phials, though Harry did have to get a nice set of scales for weighing ingredients and a collapsible telescope for Astronomy.

At Eyelop's Owl Emporium, Harry (with input from Hermione) picked out a beautiful snowy owl, which Hagrid paid for, and Ron was told by his parents that he could pick out an owl of his own as well. He ended up choosing a small scops owl, since even though his family had more money, he didn't want to spend too much on a pet. Ginny promptly named the owl Pigwidgeon, when Ron was trying to think of a name. "Really, Ginny?" he groaned. "I don't want to name him that."

"Why not?" Ginny asked. "Pigwidgeon's a cute name."

"Maybe to you," said Ron. "But I'm not naming my owl that. I'll think of something else."

The group headed to Magical Menagerie, where Hagrid bought Neville a small glass terrarium with a handle for his toad as a birthday present, and then finally they went to Ollivander's for wands. Neville was going to use his father's wand, so he just stood to one side as his friends got wands.

It only took a few minutes before Ron got the perfect wand, one of willow, thirteen inches, with a core of unicorn hair, and a minute later, Hermione got one of vine wood, ten and three-quarters inches, with dragon heartstring core. However, it took a very long time for Harry to get a wand.

He had probably tried every wand in the store, except for the old one shown in the window, when he was presented with one of holly, eleven inches, with phoenix feather core. As soon as he took the wand, he felt warmth sweeping through him, and as he waved it, a stream of red and green sparks shot out of the end like fireworks. His friends clapped.

Harry was relieved to have finally found a wand that chose him, but it went away when Mr. Ollivander told him that the phoenix that had provided the feather for his wand also gave another, this one in Voldemort's wand. Harry shuddered a bit to find out that his wand and Voldemort's were brothers, then decided that the connection couldn't be helped, any more than he could help being related to the Dursleys. Sirius and Remus exchanged looks as Lia paid seven Galleons for the wand.

Fortunately, none of the others said anything about the wand, so Harry didn't have to worry about things. He Flooed home, with Hermione joining him, and after picking up his new broom, the two of them, plus his guardians and Remus, Flooed over to the Weasleys for his birthday lunch and party. Colin and Dennis Creevy were also present, since he'd gotten to know them ever since Sirius had acknowledged them as his (distant) cousins, and Colin had befriended Luna and Ginny.

After a delicious lunch and cake, Harry opened his presents. His friends had all chipped in and got him a Broomstick Servicing Kit and a practice Snitch. Fred and George gave him a box of sweets, and Percy gave him a luxury quill pen. Charlie had left for his job at the dragon preserve in Romania three weeks ago, so he couldn't attend the party, but he had sent Harry a figurine of a Norwegian Ridgeback and a book on dragons. Bill, who also had work, sent Harry a book on Egyptian wizards, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave him a box of fudge and an Appleby Arrows poster. Colin and Dennis gave him a journal (not knowing that he'd already been given one) and a framed picture of his group of friends.

After that was the informal Quidditch match. Since Dennis wasn't that great at flying for the moment, he acted as the announcer. As Charlie wasn't available to play as a Seeker, Ginny volunteered to play Seeker. Harry chose Ron as Keeper, Hermione and Neville as Chasers, and Fred as Beater. Ginny's team had George as Beater, Percy as Keeper, and Luna and Colin as Chasers.

Since both teams had equally good (or poor, depending on your viewpoint) Chasers, the only reason Harry's team scored more goals was due to Ron being a better Keeper than Percy. After half an hour, Harry spotted the practice Snitch first, and caught it, winning the match for his team. They had a second match, and he generously switched brooms with Ginny. This time, Ginny beat him to the Snitch, but that had more to do with the fact that she was using the faster broom and happened to be closer to the Snitch when she and Harry spotted it at the same time.

After that, Harry let Ron have a go on the Nimbus, and then the party ended.

* * *

August passed fairly quickly, and soon it was September first. Harry woke up early, and checked his trunk to make sure that he'd packed everything. He then fed his owl, which he'd named Hedwig, after a name he'd gotten out of _A History of Magic_. Ron had looked just a bit annoyed at that, as his owl had refused to respond to any name but Pigwidgeon by the time he'd come up with a better one. In the end, Ron just called his owl 'Pig' for short, and said that if Ginny ever had kids, she should let her husband be the one to pick the names for them.

After breakfast, Lia drove them to King's Cross Station (as Sirius couldn't drive any Muggle vehicle besides a motorcycle, though he was currently learning how to drive a car). They arrived at half past ten, and Lia found a parking spot. Sirius got a trolley and loaded Harry's trunk on it, then helped him wheel it into the station. Along the way, they ran into the Grangers, and reached the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten to find that the Weasleys (minus Mr. Weasley, who had work) there.

"Hi, Ron," Harry and Hermione said, grinning at their friend.

Ron returned the greeting, and after Percy, Fred, and George had gone through the barrier, the trio went. This was the first time that Harry and Hermione had ever seen Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, and they gazed around in wonder. After a minute, they heard Neville calling their names.

The three pushed their trolleys in that direction and saw Neville, who was holding the terrarium with his toad Trevor in it, and his grandmother standing by the last carriage. "Hello, guys," he said with a smile. "I got us a compartment. Oh, hello Mr. Sirius and Miss Lia."

"Hello, Neville," said Sirius and Lia. They helped Harry, Hermione, and Ron load their trunks in the luggage rack of the compartment Neville had reserved, and that was when Remus turned up.

"Oh good, you made it, Uncle Remus," said Harry, looking happy.

"Of course I'd make it," said Remus. "Do you think I wouldn't see my _de facto_ godson off?"

There were a flurry of good-byes, wishes from the parents and guardians that they enjoy their time at Hogwarts, and admonitions from Mrs. Weasley to behave (mostly directed at Fred and George). The whistle blew then, and the quartet boarded the train again. A minute later, the Hogwarts Express started moving. The adults waved, while Ginny ran after the train, half-laughing and half-crying, until it started moving too fast, at which point she fell back and simply waved.

Once the Hogwarts Express rounded a bend and the platform couldn't be seen anymore, Fred and George went off to join their friend Lee Jordan, and the quartet entered their compartment.

"We're finally off," said Hermione, sounding as if she couldn't quite believe it.

"Yeah," said Harry. "I feel sorry about Ginny, though. She was saying that she wished she could go to Hogwarts this year. Well, at least she has Luna and Colin to keep her company."

"That's true," Neville said. "But they only have to wait a year. Poor Dennis has to wait three years."

"The wait is worth it," said Ron. "Well, we've got a several hours train ride ahead of us."

"Then let's figure out what we're going to do to entertain ourselves," said Hermione. After a minute of discussion, they decided to play Harry's copy of Monopoly, which he'd packed. To make things easier for Ron and Neville, Lia had altered the play money so that it read as Galleons instead of pounds, but it was otherwise unchanged. They soon got into the game, pausing only when the food trolley came by.

"Would you like anything from the trolley, dears?" the witch selling the snacks asked.

The four of them pooled their money and ended up buying some of everything. The food was dumped on an empty seat, and Neville, who was the closest, started distributing it around. The game resumed, with the quartet enjoying the various snacks. Hermione didn't eat much of the sweets, as her parents had raised her to limit her consumption of sugar for her dental health, but did have at least one of everything, and filled up on the sandwiches her parents had packed for her.

An hour later, Ron had to admit defeat, as he landed on one of Harry's properties that had a hotel and didn't have enough money to pay the rent. On top of that, all his properties were already mortgaged, so he couldn't make up the money that way. He declared himself bankrupt, handed everything over to Harry, and then sat back to watch the other three finish the game.

Neville was the next one to declare bankruptcy, and it was down to Hermione and Harry. The two were trying to take each other down, when the door to their compartment suddenly opened. The boy that Harry had met in Diagon Alley, Draco Malfoy, walked in, with two heavyset boys behind him.

"People are saying that Harry Potter's on the train," Draco said. "So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry, frowning. "And may I ask why you didn't knock first? After all, it's only polite. And you didn't bother introducing yourself or your friends, either."

"Sorry," said the other insincerely. "I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. These are Crabbe and Goyle."

"Nice to meet you, Malfoy Draco Malfoy," said Harry. Ron and Neville stifled sniggers at his deliberate mistake over Draco Malfoy's name, and Hermione hid a smile.

"It's Draco Malfoy!" Malfoy angrily corrected him, his cheeks tinged with pink.

"Then you should have said so, instead of saying 'Malfoy, Draco Malfoy'," Harry said calmly. "Unless you're trying to copy how James Bond introduces himself." Seeing Malfoy's puzzled look, he added, "James Bond is a Muggle fictional character. Now what did you want, Draco Malfoy?"

A look of distaste briefly crossed Malfoy's face over being compared to a Muggle character, and then he said, "We may have gotten off to a wrong start during our first meeting at Madam Malkin's. I would like to try again. Sirius Black is your godfather, after all, and he is the Head of the Black family. Since he is a cousin to Mother and me, we ought to be on good terms with each other."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Harry asked. "Because you'd also have to be good terms with my Aunt Lia, Uncle Sirius's wife, and she's Muggleborn. Oh, and you'd have to accept my friend Ron, since Sirius acknowledged the Weasleys as his cousins, reinstating Cedrella Black, who was disowned for marrying Ron's grandfather, back into the family. And he also reinstated your Aunt Andromeda back into the family, and acknowledged her marriage."

By this point, Malfoy's face was quite flushed, and his eyes flashed with disgust and anger. "The Head of the Black family married a common Mudblood? How dare he sully the family name and –"

"If you've got a problem with it, take it up with Uncle Sirius, not me," Harry interrupted. "Besides, do keep in mind that I'm a halfblood, not a pureblood. If you're so concerned with blood purity, why are you so interested in befriending me? Now, I have a game to get back to, so could you please leave?"

Malfoy's eyes flicked to the table and he frowned when he saw the board game. "What game is that?"

"It's a Muggle game called Monopoly," said Harry. "Would you like me to explain it?"

"No!" spat Malfoy, looking disgusted. "I don't want to know about a stupid Muggle game. Come on, Crabbe and Goyle." With that, he stalked out the compartment, Crabbe and Goyle after him.

"Ugh, he's awful," said Hermione, making a face as she shut the door. "What does Mudblood mean?"

"It's a really horrible name to call Muggleborns," Ron responded. "It's like saying that they've got dirty blood. Only racist gits like Malfoy use that term, so that's why you haven't heard the word before."

"Malfoy insulted Aunt Lia?" Harry demanded, looking angry. He had never heard the term 'Mudblood' before either. "I mean, I got that he was rude about her, but I didn't know that he used a, what's the word, a slur, against her. If I had known, I'd have punched him, or tried to hex him, or something."

"And then you'd have gotten into trouble for retaliating," Hermione pointed out. "Malfoy's not worth it. Harry, what you should do is tell Sirius and Lia about it, and have them deal with the insult."

"Good idea," said Harry. He rummaged in his trunk for the two-way mirror that Sirius had given him yesterday, and contacted his godfather. After explaining the second meeting with Draco Malfoy, Sirius turned angry and promised that he would deal with the matter.

With that settled, Harry and Hermione returned to the game. After another hour, with no sign of either of them gaining an advantage, they decided to end the game. A tally of their money and properties proved that Hermione had more assets, and she was declared the winner. Harry packed the game up and put it back in his trunk, and then they changed into their school robes, with Hermione stepping out for a couple minutes for the boys to change, and then switching so that she could change.

Since they still had about another hour before they were due to arrive, the quartet started a game of Exploding Snap. Ron won that one, and by that time, they arrived at the station. The quartet got off the Hogwarts Express and walked over to Hagrid, who was calling the first years to him. He greeted the four, and once all the first years were gathered, led them to a fleet of boats by the lake.

"No more'n four people to a boat," Hagrid said. The quartet got into one boat.

Once everyone was settled in a boat, Hagrid got into the lead one, and they were off across the lake. Around a bend they finally saw the castle, which had lights shining out of its windows. The first-years gazed in awe at Hogwarts.

Once the fleet reached the other shore, they all disembarked and walked up the dark path to the front doors. Hagrid knocked, and the doors swung open to reveal Professor McGonagall standing there.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said respectfully.

"Thank you, Hagrid, I will take it on from here," said Professor McGonagall. She was dressed in emerald green robes with a pointed hat, and looked much more severe than the previous times that Harry had seen her. He privately thought that she didn't look like one to cross.

She led the first years to a small room next to the Great Hall, and proceeded to give them a speech about how they were soon to be Sorted into a House and that their houses would be like their family while they were in Hogwarts. From what Sirius, Remus, and Lia had told him, it didn't sound much different from the speech that she'd given them when they had first arrived at Hogwarts.

After that, Professor McGonagall left for a couple minutes to get everything set up, telling them that they ought to take the opportunity to neaten up. Her eyes rested briefly on Ron's nose, which had somehow gotten smudged, and then on Neville, who's cloak had shifted so that it was now fastened under his ear. Harry nervously attempted to flatten his hair, even though there was nothing he could do to tame his perpetually messy hair, other than using the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion that his paternal grandfather had invented (which he'd only used once, for Sirius and Lia's wedding).

Several of the other first years looked nervous or worried, which probably meant that they hadn't been told about the Sorting Hat, likely because their relatives wanted it to be a surprise. Lia had told the quartet about the Sorting, however, so the only nervousness they had was over which house they would be Sorted in, not over how they were going to be Sorted.

Suddenly there was a small scream, and Harry whirled around to see about twenty ghosts drifting into the room through a wall. From the snippet of conversation he heard, it seemed they were discussing Peeves the poltergeist. Seconds later, the ghost with the ruff (probably the Gryffindor ghost, Sir Nicolas, aka Nearly-Headless Nick) noticed the group of students, and the conversation cut off.

Another ghost, who looked like a jolly and plump friar, expressed the wish that he hoped to see them in Hufflepuff, his old house, confirming that he was the Fat Friar, the Hufflepuff ghost. At that point, Professor McGonagall came back and escorted the first years into the Great Hall.

Harry looked around in wonder as he walked in. There were four long house tables, with a fifth one at one end of the room for the staff. Hundreds of lit candles floated high above the tables, and the ceiling showed a starry night sky. Though he knew (from _Hogwarts, a History_ ) that the ceiling was enchanted to look like the sky outside, he still had difficulty believing that it didn't just open up to the heavens.

Once the first-years were lined up, Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on a tall stool, and a rip in the brim opened. The Sorting Hat proceeded to sing a song about the four houses. (Insert the Sorting Hat song from _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_ here.)

Once it was done, the entire school clapped, and then the Sorting began. Professor McGonagall read the first name from a scroll she was holding, "Abbott, Hannah." A girl with a blonde pigtails stumbled out of the line, put the Hat on her head, and sat down. A moment later, it shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her. "Bones, Susan" was also Sorted into Hufflepuff, and she scuttled off to sit next to Hannah. The next student, "Boot, Terry", was Sorted into Ravenclaw. The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurt, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Fred and George cat-calling.

"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. The table second from the right started clapping as the heavyset girl joined them. Many of them looked like an unpleasant lot, but a few appeared nice.

Harry gave a slight start when he heard "Finch-Fletchley, Justin" being called. Justin had been one of the Muggleborn students that Lia had visited. It had taken some convincing to get Mr. and Mrs. Finch-Fletchley to see that Justin would be better off at Hogwarts and learning to master his magic, since his name had originally been down for Eton. That Justin really wanted to attend Hogwarts had helped with his parents eventually giving in. Unlike the Grangers, however, his parents had only wanted to visit Diagon Alley once (besides the visit for his school supplies), and that was only to buy some books so that Justin (and by extension them), had a better understanding of the wizarding world.

Justin ended up Hufflepuff, and Harry thought that perhaps if he was also Sorted into Hufflepuff, he ought to get to know the other boy better.

Hermione was the first person in the quartet to be Sorted. It took about three minutes, but in the end she was Sorted into Ravenclaw. Harry felt disappointed to hear that, because while he was smart, he wasn't exactly the studious sort like Hermione was. Also, while he enjoyed reading, he wasn't really into non-fiction books, besides ones about Quidditch and Potions. The same was pretty much true for Ron and Neville (except it was just Quidditch in Ron's case, and just Herbology in Neville's). Therefore, the chances of the three of them getting Sorted into Ravenclaw were quite slim.

Neville was the next person in the quartet to be called up. He tripped on the way to the stool, and the hat took a long time, almost five minutes, to decide with him. When it finally shouted "HUFFLEPUFF," he looked relieved as he took off the hat and ran off to sit at the Hufflepuff table.

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once; the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!" He went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself. Harry made a face and wondered if it would be worth being stuck with Malfoy for the next seven years in order to really upset Dumbledore and his plans.

There weren't many people left now. Lily Moon was in Hufflepuff, Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson in Slytherin, Padma Patil in Ravenclaw, and her twin Parvati in Gryffindor. After Sally-Anne Perks, it was finally, "Potter, Harry!" As Harry stepped forward, whispered suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

" _Potter_ , did she say?"

" _The_ Harry Potter?"

The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.

"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes–and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting. So where shall I put you?"

By this point, Harry knew that (after Neville's Sorting) it was pointless to think that the quartet would be in the same house. He figured that he might as well just ruin Dumbledore's plans completely, and shock the wizarding world, by getting Sorted into Slytherin, even if it did mean putting up with Malfoy. Besides, Lia's group of friends had been in all four houses, and he knew that his group wouldn't let a thing like being in separate houses ruin their friendship, just like the other group.

Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, _Why not put me in Slytherin_?

"Ah, I understand," said the small voice. "You want to go on your own path, not someone else's, and it has the added benefit of emulating a similar group of friends. That's certainly quite cunning of you, and a good ambition to have. All right then, if you're sure – better be SLYTHERIN!"

Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. There was a complete and utter silence as everyone tried to process the fact that the Boy-Who-Lived had been Sorted into Slytherin. His friends, however, and Fred, George, and Percy, understood why he wanted to be in Slytherin, and started clapping for him, breaking the silence. This jolted the Slytherins, who were the first to recover from the shock, and started clapping and cheering, with the exception of a few like Malfoy, who looked confused. As Harry sat down between Theodore Nott and a girl named Daphne Greengrass, he saw that Professor Dumbledore looked completely thunderstruck. Further down, Harry saw that Professor Snape looked pensive, and Hagrid (who also understood his reasoning) gave him a thumbs up.

Now there were only five people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean" (another student that Lia visited, though it was possible that he was actually a halfblood and not Muggleborn) went to Gryffindor. Lisa Turpin became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn.

Ron appeared to be having a silent argument with the hat. Apparently the hat won, for after four minutes, it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR", and Ron, looking disappointed, took off the hat and joined the Gryffindor table. Harry suspected that his friend had tried to join him in Slytherin.

The last student, Blaise Zabini, was made a Slytherin, and he sat down opposite Harry. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.

Professor Dumbledore got to his feet. The thunderstruck look was gone, and he was now beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there. "Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everyone clapped and cheered, and Harry looked down to see that the dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs. Harry immediately piled his plate with a bit of everything except the mint humbugs and began to eat. It was all delicious.

After the edge of everyone's hunger had been taken off, Theodore Nott asked, "So Harry Potter, how did you get Sorted into Slytherin? From what Malfoy told me, you don't seem like our type."

"Slytherins are supposed to be ambitious and cunning, right?" Harry asked. "And I've got plenty of that. Also, I wanted to be in Slytherin. I figured if I couldn't be in the same house as my friends, then I might as well shatter the wizarding world's preconceptions of me. And it would completely ruin any plans that Dumbledore might have for me, since I'm the 'Boy-Who-Lived'. Also, I wanted to do my part in changing the terrible reputation that Slytherin had."

Nott and Daphne looked thoughtful to hear that, and so did Blaise Zabini and the girl next to him, Tracey Davis. Malfoy, however, scowled, while Crabbe and Goyle looked confused.

"Hmm, you do have a point about Slytherin's reputation, Potter," said a third-year boy. "It could use some changing, since the rest of the school looks down on us. I'm Cassius Warrington, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Warrington," Harry said. "I know that there are decent Slytherins, like Eric Vicks, who's friends with my godparents and works as the Black family lawyer. And Uncle Sirius's cousin, Aunt Andromeda, is also really nice. So I thought I could be like them. Since I am famous, though I really wish I weren't, I figured my fame could help with changing Slytherin's reputation."

Several of the older Slytherins now looked thoughtful as well, though one of them asked, "Does that mean you want us to go around accepting halfbloods and mud-Muggleborns though?"

"I'm a halfblood, aren't I?" Harry pointed out. "You accept me somewhat, since I'm a Slytherin."

Looks were exchanged, and Harry continued, "Besides, Muggleborns don't have a complete Muggle ancestry. Uncle Sirius did some research into the disowned members of the Black family. Marius Black was disowned for being a Squib, and he ended up integrating into the Muggle world and married a Muggle. His great-grandsons, Colin and Dennis, inherited the magical gene, and will be attending Hogwarts when they're old enough. That proves Muggleborns have magical ancestry."

"That's nonsense," Malfoy said rudely. "Mudbloods aren't descended from Squibs."

"Uncle Sirius, with Mr. Eric's help, did the research," Harry retorted. "Also, keep in mind that if witches and wizards don't marry Muggles and Muggleborns, we'll just end up dying out. Or we'll be forced to resort to marrying our cousins, and then you get the problems associated with incest."

"Potter's got a point," said one of the girl prefects. "Also, there's a number of halfbloods in Slytherin. Otherwise our house would have much fewer members, since there're less purebloods than before."

"I can accept halfbloods, but asking me to accept Mud-Muggleborns is too much," said another girl. "Even if they are descended from Squibs that married Muggles."

"I'm not asking you to accept them," Harry said. "I just want you to keep an open mind, and at the very least, leave them alone. Doing that much will help with changing our reputation."

"I guess I can do that," the girl said doubtfully. "I'm Amaryllis Montague, by the way."

The conversation ended as the other Slytherins considered Harry's words. Some, like Malfoy, were adamant in sticking to their views (or the views that their parents had raised them with) towards Muggleborns, but others were starting to question things. A few, who were like Harry and Eric and were only in Slytherin because they were ambitious and cunning and were accepting of everyone, leaned over to Harry and told him that they agreed with him.

By the time the food disappeared to be replaced by dessert, Daphne and Tracey had told Harry that they agreed with his reasoning and wanted to help him with changing Slytherin's reputation. Theodore Nott ate a few bites of cake, and then said, "I want to do the same. My mother, before she died last year, raised me to accept everyone regardless of parentage. You reminded me of that, Potter, since Father's been teaching me to believe in pureblood superiority since her death."

Harry reflected that it was good thing he'd reminded Nott to be accepting, or he could have forgotten what his mother had taught him and gone on to follow his father's views. "All right then. If you're going to join me, and possibly become my friend, then you can call me 'Harry', not 'Potter'."

"Then you can call me 'Theodore' or 'Theo'," said Theodore. "But not 'Teddy'. Only my mother could call me that. If you do it, I'll probably hex you."

"Don't worry, I'll just call you 'Theo'," Harry assured him. He set down his fork and held out his hand. Theodore blinked, then set down his fork and shook Harry's hand.

When dessert was over, Professor Dumbledore stood up. He made the start-of-term announcements, ending with the fact that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side was out-of-bounds. There were puzzled looks from most of the students, and the Slytherin prefects started muttering to themselves over why the corridor could possibly be out-of-bounds.

After that, Dumbledore led everyone in singing the school song. Since they were each singing to a tune of their choosing, everyone finished the song at different times. Finally, only the Weasley twins were left singing to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted the last few lines with his wand and when they finished, he was one of those that clapped the loudest.

He dismissed the students, and the Slytherin first-years followed their fifth-year prefects, Gemma Farley and Marcus Flint down to their common room in the dungeons area. They stopped at a blank stretch of wall, and Flint said the password, "Purity." A stone door concealed in the wall slid back to reveal the entrance into the common room.

Inside, the room was rather dungeon like, with greenish lamps and chairs. It clearly extended partway under the lake, which gave the light in the room a green tinge. There were a number of low-backed black and dark green button-tufted, leather sofas, and several dark wood cupboards. The room was decorated with several skulls, and there was a large fireplace at one end of the room.

Gemma stepped forward and gave a welcoming speech to the new Slytherins. She brought up again the fact that there were a number of halfbloods in Slytherin, and mentioned that Merlin had been a Slytherin. She explained about the house ghost, the Bloody Baron, pointed out the noticeboard where the passwords (which changed every fortnight) would be posted, and ended with bringing up Harry's desire to change Slytherin's reputation.

"Potter has a point about getting the rest of the school to not perceive us as evil. Walking on the wild side is fine, since as I said before, hinting that you've got access to a whole library of curses will prevent people from wanting to nick your things. But there's a difference between being respected and feared. We're not uniformly bad people, but thanks to the fact that we've had alumni like the Dark Lord, we're perceived as bad or evil. So I would like it if we could make an effort to change the perception of us, and prove that we are great without the bad reputation. All right?"

There were a few nods, and then she dismissed them. Harry headed for the first year boys' dormitory. Inside were six four-posters with green silk hangings and bedspreads embroidered with silver thread. Medieval tapestries depicting famous Slytherins covered the walls, and silver lanterns hung from the ceiling. Their trunks had been brought in and placed at the foot of the beds.

Harry was in the middle of extracting his pyjamas and toothbrush and toothpaste from his trunk when Malfoy decided to confront him. "What do you think you're doing, Potter?" he demanded

"I'm getting ready for bed," Harry said, blinking in surprise as he straightened.

"No, I meant about the whole changing Slytherin's reputation," Malfoy snapped. "You're ruining our illustrious history! We're already respected, and being feared isn't a bad thing! But now you're upsetting things with your views, and convinced several people to go along with you, including Prefect Farley! Why couldn't you have been Sorted into Gryffindor like the Weasley you're friends with? Or be in Hufflepuff, since you were so quick to defend that house?"

"I'm not ruining Slytherin," Harry said patiently. "I want to make it better. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm tired and want to go to sleep, so I'm going to go get ready for bed." He left for the bathroom.

When he returned, he immediately got into bed. Malfoy was glaring at him (and Theodore, who had obviously stood up for Harry), and had gotten Crabbe and Goyle to do the same. Blaise Zabini had apparently elected to stay out of things, for he sided with neither Harry or Malfoy. Harry ignored this, and after bidding Theodore a good-night, put his glasses on the dresser next to his bed, pulled shut his hangings, and laid down. He was soon asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Professor Dumbledore walked into his office, dropping the mask of happiness that he'd shown at the Welcoming Feast. How could Harry Potter of all people be sorted into Slytherin? It wasn't supposed to happen! Oh, he knew that Harry's life with his relatives hadn't been the best, but he never thought that they'd go so far as outright abusing him. Dumbledore had just thought that Harry might be a bit neglected, which was why he hadn't taken Mrs. Figg's concerns seriously. Besides, the family wards on the Dursley home and being kept away from the fame outweighed a little unhappiness.

When he found out that Harry had actually been abused (though thankfully not to the point that he was in danger of dying at the hands of his relatives), he'd been shocked. He'd been worried that Harry would be so adversely affected that he couldn't properly function in public, but then he heard that Lia Killian (or Black now that she was married) and Sirius Black had taken matters in hand. Since Lia had been in Gryffindor and had ties with the Weasley family, who were also staunch Gryffindors, and Sirius (in addition to being a Gryffindor) refused to have anything to do with his family's Dark past, Professor Dumbledore figured that they'd teach Harry to be a strong Gryffindor.

Harry being in Slytherin had never figured in Dumbledore's plans. Yes, Dumbledore knew that not all Slytherins were evil, but thanks to Voldemort and his followers, it was tainted with a dark reputation. He figured that Harry would want to have nothing to do with the house that produced the wizard that had killed his parents, and would want to be in Gryffindor like his parents. That hadn't happened, and now Dumbledore's carefully wrought plans for Harry (at least in regards to his eventual face-off with Voldemort to determine who would win once and for all) was now in ruins.

"Why is this happening to me?" he muttered. "Harry was supposed to be in Gryffindor, and then one day would face Voldemort and defeat him once and for all. That's what I was working for. Now, for all I know, Harry could just decide to have nothing to do with it and run off. Or he could defeat Voldemort, but then be labelled as a budding Dark Lord intent on taking out the competition instead of as a hero."

Dumbledore paced around his office for a minute, and then turned to the Sorting Hat. "What were you thinking, sorting Harry Potter into Slytherin?" he demanded. "Or is he really turning Dark?"

"He's not turning Dark," the Sorting Hat said. "But I can't tell you anything else about his sorting. Do remember that I have Sorting Hat-student confidentiality. You'll have to take it up with him."

Dumbledore stifled a growl of annoyance, since he couldn't take it up with Harry Potter, thanks to the injunction that Madam Bones had put against him. What happened during one's Sorting was not something that the Headmaster or mistress had purview over. Even if it was, he couldn't ask Harry about it without having Professors Snape or McGonagall present (the former as his Head of House and the latter as the Deputy Headmistress), and they would object to the questioning.

"What is so wrong with having Harry Potter in Slytherin?" the portrait of former Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black asked. "Slytherin is an illustrious house, and having him there would improve it."

"Or it could make him be seen as Dark!" Dumbledore retorted. "People could speculate that Harry is a budding Dark wizard and that Voldemort went after him to take out the competition!"

"It can't be that bad," said the portrait of former Headmistress Dilys Derwent. "Remember who his guardians are now. They wouldn't have raised him improperly after taking him from his relatives."

That gave Dumbledore pause, until he remembered that Lia's group of friends had included a Slytherin. Not that Eric Vicks had been at all bad, in fact he'd been a model student except for the occasional hijinks that he and his friends had gotten into, and he was now doing _pro bono_ work as a lawyer when he wasn't busy with any matters for Sirius. Since Dumbledore was aware that Lia's group was very close with each other, they no doubt had met with Harry and might have influenced him a bit. That didn't necessarily mean anything, as the other two in the group had been in the other two houses, and Harry obviously hadn't tried to get put in either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.

"Why did this happen?" Dumbledore asked of nobody in particular. "Nobody would doubt that Harry is a hero if he were in Gryffindor. Even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad, since they've got good reputations, even if Hufflepuff is looked down upon at times. But Slytherin of all things!"

"Humph, there is nothing wrong with being in Slytherin," said Headmaster Black.

The other portraits chimed in with their agreement. "Fine then!" Dumbledore snapped, throwing up his hands. "My plans are in ruins, and I might as well just let a Slytherin Harry take his course!" He glared at the portraits, and then stalked out of the office to his private quarters.

* * *

Professor Snape walked into his private quarters and poured himself a small glass of firewhiskey. Normally he didn't drink anything more alcoholic than butterbeer (which had so little alcohol content that unless you were tiny like a house-elf or goblin, you'd have to drink ten bottles to even get tipsy), but after tonight's Sorting, he needed a drink to steady himself. The last person he would have expected to be in Slytherin was Harry Potter, and yet he had been sorted there. Maybe his childhood with his abusive relatives had made him more cunning or otherwise affected him (just as Snape's own unpleasant childhood had influenced how he turned out), but still.

Harry had first been taken in by the Grangers, and if Hermione Granger's sorting into Ravenclaw was any indication, they were nice people that valued education and intelligence. On top of that, Lia Killian, or rather Black now that she was married, would have surely influenced him, as she'd been the one to rescue him, and was now his guardian along with Sirius Black. Snape knew that Black definitely have influenced Harry, and based on that, Snape would have thought Harry would hate Slytherin. On the other hand, Lia did have a Slytherin friend, so she could have taught him that there were good Slytherins, and Snape had heard that Black had hired Eric Vicks as the family lawyer.

A knock on his door startled Snape, and he set down his drink to answer the door. To his surprise, Gemma Farley was standing there. "Is something the matter, Miss Farley?"

"Not exactly, Professor Snape," she replied. "I just thought that you might want to be apprised of the situation with Harry Potter, since his sorting was something of a surprise."

"Come in," Snape said, moving to one side to let Gemma in. He gestured for her to take a seat on the couch, and sat down on the armchair. "So what is going on with Mr. Potter then?"

"Potter explained why he was sorted into Slytherin during dinner," Gemma answered. "He actually _wanted_ to be in Slytherin. He does have some our qualities of ambition and cunning, but he said that if he couldn't be in the same house as his friends, then he might as well shatter the wizarding world's preconceptions of him, and ruin any plans that Professor Dumbledore has for him in the process. He also wants to change the bad reputation that Slytherin has. He knows that we've had decent members, but obviously they're not enough to change things. Potter figures that if he has to be famous, even though he doesn't want to be, then he might as well use it towards changing our reputation."

Snape blinked in surprise. "That's unexpected," he said, feeling that it was an understatement. "So what was the reaction of the rest of the house, Miss Farley?"

"Some people, like the Malfoy boy, don't like it, sir. Others are at least willing to consider Potter's views, and the Nott boy and the Davis and Greengrass girls said that they were willing to help with his goal. I think Warrington will help too, since he agreed that our reputation needs changing. Amaryllis Montague did question having to accept Muggleborns, but Potter told her that he was only asking that we just leave them alone and that doing that much would help with changing our reputation. I agree with him, and I think the other prefects are at least seriously considering his words."

"So Potter has already converted a few people to his way of thinking, and convinced three of his year-mates to ally with him, if not eventually join his circle of friends," Snape said thoughtfully. "I see that he definitely bears watching out for, in a good way, and will be an asset to our House. Thank you for telling me this, Miss Farley. You can go now. Good-night."

"Good-night, Professor," Gemma said, and she got up and left the room.

Snape picked up his glass of firewhiskey and downed it in a gulp. What Gemma Farley had just told him had further unsettled him, even if it was good information. He wondered what James and Lily would make of this if they were still alive. Well, wanting to change Slytherin's reputation for the better was something that Lily would have done, but James Potter, based on his dislike of pretty much all Slytherins (except Professor Slughorn), would never consider such a thing. Unless he'd matured the way that Black had done, he would likely still think that Slytherins were scum and not worth the time and effort to change their House into something better.

With a sigh, Snape got up and headed for his bedroom, hoping that the Potter boy _would_ prove to be an asset.

* * *

Harry woke up early the next morning. He gathered a set of robes, which now had the Slytherin crest on them, clean underwear, and his toiletries, and went to the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth. When he returned to his dormitory, he saw that Theodore Nott had just woken up.

"Good morning, Theo," Harry said, as he put his dirty clothes in the laundry hamper.

"Good morning, Harry," Theo replied, getting out of bed. He soon disappeared into the bathroom to wash up, and Harry went to the common room to write a letter to his godparents and Remus.

" _Dear Uncle Sirius, Aunt Lia, and Uncle Remus,_

 _Well, I got sorted into Slytherin. In fact, my friends copied your group, Aunt Lia, and we all got sorted into different houses. Hermione's in Ravenclaw, Neville's in Hufflepuff, and Ron's in Gryffindor, though from the disappointed look on Ron's face, I think he tried to get into Slytherin with me. It took him four minutes to be sorted too, so he was almost a Hatstall. Neville was also almost a Hatstall, as it took him almost five minutes to be declared a Hufflepuff, and Hermione took about three minutes._

 _Anyway, Professor Dumbledore looked really shocked with my sorting, so I think it's safe to say that his plans for me are ruined. I explained to the other Slytherins why I was sorted there and how I wanted to help change its reputation for the better. Draco Malfoy didn't like it, and said so. He thinks I'm 'ruining Slytherin's illustrious history'. He also said it was nonsense that Muggleborns are actually descended from Squibs, even though I presented Colin and Dennis as proof. Malfoy convinced Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, who were with him on the train ride, to side with him, if the glares they were giving me and Theodore Nott are any indication._

 _Oh, Theo has sided with me. He said that his mother, before she died last year, had taught him to accept everyone, regardless of their parentage. I apparently reminded him of that, as his father has been teaching him to believe in pureblood superiority since her death. Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis, fellow first-years, have also said they want to help me in improving Slytherin's reputation. So has Gemma Farley, one of the prefects, because at the end of her welcoming speech, she said I had a point and that she would like us to make an effort to change other people's perception of us. Some of the other Slytherins have also admitted that I have a point, or are at least considering what I said, but there are several who think like Malfoy._

 _Out of the rest of the Slytherin first years, Blaise Zabini was considering what I said, but so far, he has decided to not side with either me or Malfoy. Pansy Parkinson agrees with Malfoy's way of thinking, and Millicent Bulstrode appears to be undecided, like Zabini._

 _I've decided to introduce Theo, Daphne, and Tracey to my friends. If they're serious about helping me change Slytherin's reputation, being on good terms with Ron and Hermione will be a start. Maybe my circle of friends will expand and there'll be more inter-house unity, especially if Ron, Hermione, and Neville get some of their housemates interested in befriending those in different houses. Then we can do what the Founders (especially Helga Hufflepuff) were striving for, before Salazar Slytherin had the falling out with the others over admitting Muggleborns._

 _I can't wait to start classes and actually learn magic, not just the theory that Uncle Remus has been teaching us. And it'll be great to finally brew potions on my own, and not just help Aunt Lia or Healer Ellie with preparations when they were giving us basic potions lessons. I'll write more later, or contact you guys via the mirror if it's something important, so I'll end this letter now. Love, Harry._ "

Harry folded up the two sheets of parchment and stuck it inside an envelope. He was about to see if he could find an older student to direct him to the Owlery, when Daphne and Tracey walked into the common room, followed by Gemma and her friend Amaryllis.

"Oh good," he said. "Gemma, could you give me directions to the Owlery? I just wrote a letter to my godparents, and I want to send it." Belatedly remembering his manners, he added, "Oh, and a good morning to you, Daphne, Tracey, Gemma, and Amaryllis."

"Good morning to you too, Potter," Gemma said, looking a bit amused. "Come with me. I'll take you to the Owlery. Daphne and Tracey, you should come along, so you'll know the way."

At this juncture, Theodore walked in, and Gemma invited him to join them on the trip to the Owlery. He accepted, and the five set out. Hedwig flew down from her perch when Harry called for her, and after he'd tied the letter to her leg, she gave him a fond nibble and then flew out the window.

"You have a beautiful owl, Harry," Daphne commented.

"Thanks," Harry replied, and then Gemma led the way to the Great Hall so they could have breakfast.

Partway through the meal, schedules were handed out. Harry scanned his and saw that his first class of the day was Charms, followed by Herbology with the Ravenclaws. To his slight disappointment, he saw that Potions, which was with the Gryffindors, wouldn't be until Friday.

Some of the older Slytherins (including Marcus Flint and a sixth-year prefect named Christiana Selwyn) informed him that they had thought things over last night, and wanted to help him with improving the reputation of their house. Flint and two others added that they weren't keen on accepting Muggleborns, but were willing to at least tolerate them and leave them alone, per Harry's request. They were also willing to improve their relationship with the other houses, though that didn't mean they would give up the fierce competition in things like Quidditch and the House Cup.

Daphne, Tracey, and Theo spent the meal talking with Harry. Since he didn't feel like going into detail about his life with the Dursleys, he just said that his Muggle relatives hadn't cared for magic, and by extension him, and that he'd been taken away from them when it was discovered that Dumbledore had illegally left him with them. He then moved on to what it was like living with Sirius and Lia, and explained his friendships with Ron, Neville, and Hermione (leaving out that the latter was Muggleborn).

"So all your friends got sorted into different houses?" Tracey asked, looking surprised.

Harry nodded. "Not that it'll get in the way of your friendships. It didn't get in the way of Aunt Lia and her friends, after all. I would like you to meet them. Probably during lunch, since there's no school rule that says we have to sit at our house tables outside of the feasts, or after classes today."

"Sure, we can do that," said Daphne. "It'll be interesting to meet them."

The three then started telling Harry something about their lives. Tracey was a halfblood, having a Muggleborn mother like Harry, and she had been friends with Daphne since they were five. Daphne had a younger sister named Astoria, who would start Hogwarts two years from now. Theo admitted that his father, like Mr. Malfoy, had been questioned for being a Death Eater, but had given evidence that he'd been under the Imperius Curse. However, the face that Theo made when explaining this showed that he believed his father had lied in order to get out of a prison sentence.

"Whatever your father did doesn't matter to me, Theodore," Harry said firmly. "I'm judging you by your own merits, and so long as you're nothing like him, I'm willing to be your friend. Besides, the Ministry did enough of that with my godfather, believing that he was guilty just because of his family."

"It doesn't matter to us either," Tracey said. "Besides, we Slytherins need to stick together."

After breakfast, the four of them headed for Charms. As they walked, they had to deal with the whispers from the other students, who were wondering why Harry had been sorted into Slytherin, or were curious to get a good look at him. Along the way, the four made a wrong turn and in an attempt to get back on the right track, tried to open a locked door.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be the out-of-bounds corridor, and even unluckier, the caretaker, Argus Filch, was the one to find them. He didn't believe them when they explained that they were lost, and if Professor Quirrell hadn't turned up then, they'd have likely gotten detention. Quirrell pointed them the correct way to the Charms classroom, and they thanked him before going on their way.

Professor Flitwick, a tiny old wizard that had to stand on a stack of books to properly to see everyone, started class. He took roll call, and when he got to Harry's name, he gave an excited squeak and toppled of the books. Once he recovered, he finished roll and then proceeded to explain what charms were, and the difference compared to other types of spells. He then demonstrated the Color-Changing Charm (a very easy spell), and had the class work on changing the color of ribbons.

At Herbology, Harry found Hermione, who had started to befriend her dormmate Padma Patil, and was on good terms with Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot. Harry introduced his new Slytherin friends, and invited the Ravenclaws to sit together at lunch. The Ravenclaws tentatively accepted, mostly due to Hermione vouching for Harry being a good judge of character, and then class started. Professor Sprout, a brisk, business-like witch, explained the subject, and then went over a couple of easy plants that they could deal with. Hermione and Harry (thanks to the time spent with Neville) had some prior knowledge, and won their houses ten points each for answering Professor Sprout's questions correctly.

When class ended and everyone headed back inside the castle for lunch, Harry and Hermione ran into Ron. He'd gotten to known Dean Thomas, who wanted to meet Harry since Ron had mentioned that Harry's godmother was the one that had explained the wizarding world to Dean. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil also wanted to meet Harry, since they wished to get to know him, not the whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' persona that the press and history books portrayed him as.

Right outside the Great Hall, they ran into Neville, who was with Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbott, and Susan Bones. Harry greeted his friend, and then turned to Susan. "Are you related to Madam Amelia Bones, by any chance, Susan?" he asked.

"She's my auntie," Susan answered with a smile. "She mentioned what went on with you. She didn't go into any great detail, but she did say that you'd been left your relatives against your parents' wishes in their will, and that Sirius Black took you away from them when he found out."

"I see," said Harry. He then looked over at Justin. "Justin, right? My godmother mentioned you. Aunt Lia's the one that visited you and your parents and explained about the wizarding world."

"Really?" asked Justin, looking interested. "Neville said that he was friends with you, but he never mentioned that your godmother was the one that visited me."

"Well, you didn't exactly mention it when we were talking at dinner," Neville pointed out. "If you had, I would have told you, Justin. So what's going on, Harry?"

"I would like to invite you and your housemates that are with you to eat with all of us at lunch," Harry answered. "The school rules only require us to sit at our own house tables at feasts, after all."

The Hufflepuffs accepted. After a quick discussion, they all decided that the Ravenclaw table was the most neutral place in the Great Hall to meet, since Ravenclaws were the ones that got along best with the rest of the school. A few Ravenclaws did question having those in other houses at their table, but after Hermione pointed out that the rules only stated that students had to eat at their own house tables during feasts and one of the prefects backed her up, nothing more was said against it.

Introductions were made, and the Slytherins with Harry immediately made it clear that they had nothing against blood-traitors, Muggleborns, or Muggles. Theo explained how his mother had raised him to accept everyone regardless of parentage, and Tracey added that she was a halfblood and that Daphne had been her best friend ever since they were five years old.

Harry, without going into much detail about his time with the Dursleys, told the others exactly what he'd told the Slytherins that morning. "It's horrible that your relatives didn't like magic or you," Justin said. "My parents were very surprised to find out that I was magical, and were a bit hesitant at first about me being part of the wizarding world, but they still accepted me. At least Miss Lia and your godfather took you away from them and you're living with them now, Harry."

"So why exactly were you sorted into Slytherin, Harry?" Parvati asked. "I asked Ron, once he revealed that he was your friend, but he said it wasn't something he could tell us without your permission."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Ron, you didn't need my permission. What I wanted to do isn't exactly some big secret. Anyway, Parvati, I wanted to be in Slytherin, partly to break the preconceptions the wizarding world has of me and partly to work towards improving Slytherin's reputation. Besides, after Hermione and Neville were sorted into different houses, it was clear that our quartet wouldn't all be in the same house. Aunt Lia's quartet of friends was in all four houses and their friendship is as strong as ever, so I thought emulating them wouldn't hurt. I just decided to expand my circle of friends."

"So you want us all to be a big group of friends then?" Terry asked. "Like a quartet squared?"

"Well, there are sixteen of us," Harry pointed out. "Aunt Lia's group was fine, but it didn't exactly do very much for inter-house unity, since there were only four of them."

"Not only do you want to improve Slytherin's reputation, but you want to try for inter-house unity too?" Susan asked, one eyebrow raised skeptically. "That's very ambitious, Harry."

"Well, I _am_ in Slytherin," Harry responded. "Ambition is one of our traits."

"It can't hurt to have some more unity," Hermione pointed out. "That's what the Founders were going for, before Salazar Slytherin had that falling out with the others over the Muggleborn issue. And it's not like there haven't been lots of friendships across houses, not to mention relationships, before. There just hasn't been that many between all four houses."

"Hermione's right," said Anthony. "Logically speaking, it would make Hogwarts stronger. Having some competition, like in the House Cup and Quidditch matches, is fine, but outside of stuff like that, being united is much better. Of course, there will always be people you can't get along with, but you can at least tolerate them, or just leave them alone so long as they don't do anything to you."

After a bit of discussion, they all decided to go along with becoming a large group of friends. They made plans to meet in an empty classroom after classes ended that day, and work things out.

The conversation then turned to about themselves. Terry, Hannah, and Lavender were halfbloods, though Terry was the only one with a Muggle parent (his mother was a pharmacist). Parvati and Padma were of Indian descent, thought their family had been living in Britain ever since their grandparents had immigrated from India about fifty years ago. Dean revealed that his family consisted of his mother, stepfather, and two half-sisters. His father had disappeared a couple of months after he was born, and ever since Lia had visited and explained about the wizarding world, his mother wondered if his father had been a wizard. Lia had offered to do some investigating in the matter, so perhaps he would eventually find out if he was a Muggleborn or really a halfblood.

When lunch ended, they scattered for their various classes. The Gryffindors had Transfiguration, the Slytherins had History of Magic, the Hufflepuffs had Defense, and the Ravenclaws had Charms.

Professor Binns proved to be as boring as Lia and Sirius had said him to be. After a few minutes, Harry gave up trying to listen, and instead started reading _A History of Magic_ , taking notes as he read. It was something of a relief when class ended, and Harry put his things away in his schoolbag and joined his new Slytherin friends in filing out the room.

On the way to the second floor, Fred and George appeared in front of Harry. "Hi, Harry," said Fred.

"So how are things going for you?" George added.

"They're fine," Harry said. He introduced Theo, Tracey, and Daphne, and added that they were now part of his group of friends and willing to help him improve Slytherin's reputation.

"That's good," said Fred. "Anyway, we wanted to give you this." He pulled out a rather old piece of parchment, which was blank, with a flourish, and handed it to Harry.

"Er, thanks?" Harry said blankly. "Why do I need a piece of parchment?"

"Oh, Harry, Harry, Harry," George said, shaking his head. "Don't you remember the stories that Sirius and Remus told about their time in Hogwarts? We thought you'd recognize this."

"And why would I recognize some random blank piece of parchment?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"Oh honestly, it's the Marauder's Map," Fred said, throwing up his hands in mock despair. "You really need to remember the stories about the Marauders better, Harry."

"Oh," said Harry, looking at the parchment with much more interest now.

"Anyway, Fred and I nicked it out of Filch's file cabinet back in first year," George said. "After Sirius and Remus told us about the Marauders, we explained that we got the Map. They said we could keep using it, but since you're the son of one of the Marauders, we decided to pass it on to you."

"Thanks, guys," said Harry. "It'll come in handy for me, if only to keep me from getting lost."

"Good," said Fred. "Oh, and if any of the Slytherins, the ones like that Malfoy, not the ones like your new friends, try to bother you, let us know. George and I will prank them."

"You don't need to do that," Harry protested. "I can handle idiots like Malfoy."

"And we'll back Harry up," Theo added. "Also, at least half of our prefects are on his side."

"That's fine, it's just that Harry's like a brother to us," said George. "That's why we offered. Well, Fred and I have some things we plan to do, so we'll see you guys later."

After the twins had left, Harry explained, "My father's quartet of friends, which included my godfather, Uncle Remus Lupin, and the traitor Peter Pettigrew, called themselves the Marauders. They created a map of Hogwarts, which details everything, including the secret passageways. It also shows everyone in the castle, though they're on the map as tiny dots with a name next to them." He led them into an empty classroom, and demonstrated how the Map worked. " _I solemnly swear I am up to no good._ "

The four gasped in awe as the blank parchment suddenly had writing and pictures form on it. They found four tiny dots labelled as themselves clustered in a classroom on the Map, and in various corridors, they saw other dots and names. However, those names were all jumbled together, due to the number of students. On other parts of the map, they saw the dots of teachers in their offices.

"Wow, there're even secret passageways leading out of the castle," Tracey exclaimed.

"Well, the Marauders explored the entire school," Harry said. "They found everything, except for the legendary Chamber of Secrets, and put it on the Map. Oh, the Room of Requirement's not on there either, but that's because the magic of the room makes it Unplottable."

"The Room of Requirement?" Daphne asked blankly. "What's that?"

"It's a room on the seventh floor that changes to anything you want it to be. Students normally come across it by accident, but when they try to look for it later, they usually can't find it again. My dad and his friends asked the house-elves about it on one of their trips to the kitchens for food, so they were able to find it again, and sometimes used it. That's where they finished making the Marauder's Map."

"Well, if the other students don't know about it, and the room hides itself until it's needed, why don't we meet there?" Theo suggested. "It'll be more private than an empty classroom."

"That's a good idea," said Harry. He looked on the map to see where the others were, and then wiped it blank by tapping the parchment with his wand and saying, "Mischief managed."

The four left the classroom, and upon reaching the others, Harry explained about the Room of Requirement and Theo's idea to meet there instead. The others agreed, and so the sixteen of them made their way up to the seventh floor, opposite a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet. Harry concentrated on wanting a comfortable room that was large enough for them all to meet in, and after walking back and forth by the blank stretch of wall three times, a door appeared. He opened it and gestured for them all to file in.

Inside were four comfortable couches and four armchairs, clustered in an oval around a table. Along one wall were four bookcases filled with books, and the other walls had hangings of all four houses. A side wall had a long table with cups and plates stacked on one end and pitchers of water and juice and bowls and plates of snacks (transported from the kitchens) at the other end.

"That's convenient," Ron said. "You were right, Theodore, it was a good idea to meet here." He went over to the snacks table and poured a cup of pumpkin juice for himself.

The others joined him, since they could all use a snack and something to drink. Once they all had a filled cup and a plate of snacks, they moved to the seating area.

"So, if we're going to be friends, should we have a name for ourselves the way your father's group of friends did, Harry?" Daphne asked. "It would be simpler to have a name to refer to ourselves."

"Good idea, Daphne," said Harry. "Anyone have any suggestions for a name?"

"The Hogwarts Society?" Hannah asked after a minute of thought.

A chalkboard appeared and Harry got up and wrote down Hannah's suggestion. "Any others?"

"Hmm, what about the Hogwarts Sixteen?" Dean suggested. "Since there are sixteen of us."

Harry wrote that down, and then Anthony suggested, "The Amity Association, or AA for short?"

"Ooh, that sounds good, Anthony," said Tracey. "It's alliterative and suggestive of the purpose of our group, since 'amity' means friendship and goodwill."

"It's loads better than my suggestion," said Hannah. "I'm not really good at coming up with names."

A vote was conducted, and they all agreed that Anthony's suggestion of the Amity Association, or AA for short, would be the name of their group. The chalkboard then disappeared, and the newly dubbed AA spent the next hour talking about the classes they had so far (they'd all had Herbology that day, but the same wasn't true of the other classes).

Both the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors had Transfiguration that day, and only Hermione had managed to turn her match into a needle (though both Anthony and Padma had turned their match silvery, and Ron had gotten his match to look like a wooden needle). That raised a few eyebrows, since normally no-one (besides magical or Transfiguration prodigies like James Potter had been) ever completely Transfigured their matches into needles during the first class. The best most students could manage was making the kind of changes that Anthony, Padma, and Ron had done.

"No wonder you're in Ravenclaw, with talent like that," Theo said admiringly.

"Hermione's always been brilliant," Harry said. "She got the top grades back in primary school, and just absorbed all the magical information that Uncle Remus taught us."

"Really, there's no subject that any of us can best her in, other than Herbology," Ron added. "Neville's better than her in that, though it applies more to the practical work." Hermione blushed at the praise.

"Well, if we ever need tutoring with a subject we're struggling in, then we know who to turn to for help," Lavender said. "Don't worry, we're not going to take advantage of you, and use up all your free time, Hermione. Some of us are bound to be almost as good as you in various subjects, and can help with tutoring those of us that are struggling in a subject."

Daphne added, "And if anyone tries to spout off about pureblood superiority, we'll just point to you as an example of how wrong they are, Hermione."

Hermione blushed even more. "Really, I'm not that great. I'm sure there are or were loads of witches and wizards better than me. Like Merlin for example. Or Professor McGonagall."

"Yes, but even they started out as students," Terry pointed out. "You're already showing signs of great intelligence and magical aptitude, just as they did when they were in school, so you'll likely go on to do great things, or change the wizarding world in some way. If the Potions teacher that my dad had was still teaching, he'd have invited you to be part of his club of promising students."

"I guess," said Hermione. She quickly changed the subject to Charms class.

When it grew close to six, the AA left the Room of Requirement for dinner. They returned after the meal to hang out some more, and when it was half an hour before curfew, headed for their respective common rooms.

Author's Note: While Dumbledore is the Chessmaster in the book to the extent that he will do almost anything to get rid of Voldemort (to the point on manipulating Harry if need be), he is not some evil person (or has the same kind of mindset that he did when he was friends with Grindelwald) that some fics with a manipulative Dumbledore portray him as. I originally didn't intend to have a group of sixteen, as it was just going to be the quartet, but I realized that if three of Harry's housemates were going to help him improve Slytherin's reputation and therefore befriend him, it was only fair to have the other three befriend some students in their houses. Also, inter-house unity is something that Harry would want to strive for. I apologize if the Amity Association isn't the best name for the group. I'm not very good at coming up with group names (this is why Hannah suggested the Hogwarts Society and Dean suggested the Hogwarts Sixteen), and it took me a bit to come up with a decent name that I hadn't already used in any of my other fics.


	12. Chapter 12

The rest of the week passed fairly pleasantly for Harry. He still had to put up with stares and whispers from the other students (that weren't part of the AA or in Slytherin), but thanks to the Marauder's Map, he and his Slytherins friends didn't get lost after the first day. The AA met daily after dinner in the Room of Requirement, going over the day's classes and relaxing for a bit.

In the Slytherins' first Transfiguration class, Harry found that he sadly didn't inherit his father's skill in Transfiguration, as the only change he had made to the match was to give it a pointy tip and a hole at the other end that was like the eye of a needle. Otherwise, it still had the thickness and material of a match. Defense class didn't appear to go much better, though that might have been more the fault of Professor Quirrell, since classes felt longer due to having to deal with his stuttering. On top of that, his room smelt strongly of garlic, which he said was to ward of a vampire he had once faced and feared would come after him. The turban that he was now wearing, he said was a thank-you gift from an African prince for getting rid of a troublesome zombie. Nobody really believed this, for when asked about the incident (by Seamus Finnigan in the Gryffindor class and Daphne in the Slytherin class), he hadn't answered and instead started talking about the weather. On top of that, there was a strange smell around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed with garlic so that Quirrell would be protected wherever he went.

Potions class went much better, for Harry had an interest in it ever since he'd found that his parents had both done well in the subject (especially his mother) and that the Potter family had produced several Potion Masters. Lessons from Aunt Lia and Healer Ellie in the subject had helped him hone his rudimentary potions knowledge, which showed that he had inherited some of his family's potion skills.

Professor Snape had whirled into class on Friday, and like Professor McGonagall, had held everyone's attention. After taking roll (where he had taken a pause at Harry's name and gave him an unreadable look), he gave a short speech about the art of potion-making, which would have been very good if he hadn't felt the need to add, "If you all aren't the usual bunch of dunderheads I have to teach." He then turned to Harry (whom Professor McGonagall had said had an interest in Potions) and barked, "Potter, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry blinked in surprise, then recalled the first chapter of _Advanced Potion-Making_ (he looked in Lia's copy). "Asphodel and wormwood are used to make a potion called the Draught of Living Death, sir."

A flash of surprise appeared in Snape's eyes, and he continued, "I see you appear to be somewhat knowledgeable about Potions. Tell me, where would you look if I asked you to find a bezoar?"

"I would look in my ingredients kit, Professor, or in your supply cupboard," Harry replied seriously, "since I don't exactly have a way to get a bezoar out of a goat's stomach at the moment."

Professor Snape frowned, but it didn't sound like Harry was being cheeky, and anyway, the question hadn't been "Where does a bezoar come from?" Snape decided to let the answer slide, since doing otherwise would force him to take points from Slytherin, and continued, "I suppose I should have phrased my question better. You are correct, however, about a bezoar originating in a goat's stomach. Now, can you tell me what the purpose of the stone is, Potter?"

"It is an ingredient used in many antidotes, and can be taken directly to counter most poisons if you don't have an antidote or don't know what the poison ingested was," responded Harry.

Snape blinked. "One final question. What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"There is no difference, sir," said Harry. "They're two different names for the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite, and are used in several potions, such as the Wolfsbane Potion."

"I did not ask you to tell me the usage, Potter," Professor Snape snapped. "Are you trying to flaunt your Potions knowledge in front of the class and make your classmates feel inferior?"

"I'm sorry, Professor," said Harry. "I wasn't trying to 'flaunt my Potions knowledge'. I just happen to be very interested in the subject, and learned everything I could about it. My mother was very skilled at Potions, and several of my ancestors were Potion Masters, you see."

An unreadable look crossed Snape's face, and he finally said, "All right then, Potter. In the future, please refrain from giving out extra information when answering a question, and focus your interest in Potions on brewing them during class. Five points to Slytherin for answering my questions correctly." With that, he turned to the board and magically put up the directions for brewing a simple potion to cure boils. After demonstrating the proper way to prepare ingredients, he told the class to pair up and start working on the potion. Harry partnered with Ron and Dean with Theo. Normally Lavender and Parvati (who had become best friends) and Tracey and Daphne would have just paired like that, but they decided to switch as part of showing that some Gryffindors and Slytherins could get along.

Professor Snape raised a brow when he saw those four pairings. Well, Harry and Ron being partnered didn't surprise him, for he had heard that the two had been friends. Outside of that, however, he had not expected for other Gryffindor-Slytherin pairs, even after the stated intention to improve Slytherin's reputation and relationship with the other houses. Frankly, such pairings were rare. The last such pair was Eric Vicks and Lia Black, and before that it had been him (Snape) and Lily (until their falling out).

When Snape went around the room inspecting everyone's work, he saw that Harry _had_ inherited his mother's skill in brewing, and not just memorized a bunch of facts about Potions. Snape didn't say anything, other than to say, "Your work is acceptable, Potter and Weasley," and then moved on to Malfoy, whom he praised for his work. (Privately, Snape thought that Potter was better at brewing, but he had an image to uphold and that meant complimenting Malfoy.)

Since the first-years had the afternoon free, the AA went down to see Hagrid, as the gamekeeper had invited Harry and his friends over for tea. As Hagrid's home couldn't fit himself and sixteen other people without it being a tight squeeze, he had them look around his home in two separate groups and then they all sat outside. His boarhound, Fang, joined them.

Hagrid passed around mugs of tea and offered rock cakes that he'd baked himself. The AA accepted the cakes out of politeness, but only pretended to eat them, as his baking (other than chocolate cake) wasn't the greatest (his rock cakes were as actually as hard as rocks). They told him how their week had gone so far, and explained about their group and how they were working to improve Slytherin's reputation and inter-house cooperation among the school.

"Tha's real good of yeh," Hagrid said, beaming. "Th' school could use some more unity. An' it's nice to see tha' Slytherin, or some o' them anyway, are tryin' to get away from th' reputation You-Know-Who gave it. Keep at it, you lot, an' I support yeh."

He then talked a bit about his work as gamekeeper, and asked Ron how Charlie was doing at his new job at the dragon preserve. After Ron had answered, Hagrid went on to ask the others (the ones he was just now meeting) about themselves. Two hours later, the AA returned to the castle for dinner.


	13. Chapter 13

During the second week of school, flying lessons started. The Gryffindors and Slytherins had theirs on Thursday. In the days leading up to class, Malfoy complained loudly about first years never getting on the House Quidditch teams and told long, boastful stories that always seemed to end with him narrowly escaping Muggles in helicopters. Many of the other Slytherins rolled their eyes at this, and finally, Tracey (who had enough of it) snapped, "And just how do _you_ know about helicopters, Malfoy? I would have thought you'd be completely clueless about Muggle technology, since you're one of those purebloods that hate Muggles and look down on them."

Theodore added, "And aren't you technically causing a breach of the International Statute of Secrecy with your flying by almost running into Muggles up in the air?"

Malfoy turned pink at this, tried to come with a reply but failed, and then stopped with his stories.

On Thursday morning, the AA was having breakfast at the Gryffindor table. Harry and Daphne were giving Dean (who had never flown before) flying tips, and Justin and Padma added things that Madam Hooch had said (the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had their flying class yesterday).

Partway through the discussion, the mail arrived. Hedwig flew in with two letters and a package. One of the letters was for Hermione, from her parents, and the other was for Harry from Lia and Sirius. The package contained four dozen shortbread biscuits for the AA to share, a small pot of strawberry jam to spread on the biscuits, and a jar of assorted fruit drops.

A barn owl landed in front of Neville with a package, and it proved to contain a Remembrall from his grandmother. While it was true that he could be a bit forgetful at times, a Remembrall (at least in Harry's opinion) didn't seem to be of much use, since it only let you know if you forgot something (by turning red) but not what it was you forgot. It turned red as Neville was explaining what a Remembrall was to Dean and Justin, and he trailed off as he tried to remember what it was he'd forgotten.

Draco Malfoy passed the Gryffindor table just then, and he snatched the Remembrall out of Neville's hand. "Malfoy, don't you know better than to snatch things out of people's hands without permission?" Theodore snapped. "Or did your parents not teach you manners? Give that back to Neville!"

"Make me!" Malfoy retorted, and at that point, Professor McGonagall, who could spot trouble quicker than any teacher in the school, appeared behind him.

"What's going on?" she demanded sternly.

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor," Neville answered.

"Malfoy took it out of Neville's hands, without even asking if he could look at it," Daphne added with a frown. "That was very impolite. Were you raised in a barn, Malfoy, if your manners are like that?"

Scowling, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall back on the table, and Professor McGonagall said, "In the future, Mr. Malfoy, ask permission before you take someone's belongings to look at. And Miss Greengrass, while Malfoy's behavior was wrong, please refrain from snapping back like that."

Malfoy muttered a "Sorry" and sloped away with Crabbe and Goyle behind him.

At three-thirty that afternoon, Harry and the other Slytherins hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.

Twenty broomsticks lay in neat lines on the ground. Harry had heard Fred and George complain about the old school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew too high, or always flew slightly to the left. At least Hogwarts now had new ones, for (as Lia's group of friends would only take no more than one thousand Galleons from Sirius) Sirius had used the remainder of his compensation money to buy two dozen Comet Two Fifties and two dozen Cleansweep Twos and donated them to the school. The ones now in use for the class were Comet Two Fifties.

The Gryffindors showed up a couple of minutes later, and then their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk. "Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up!"

Harry glanced down at his broom and wondered how much slower it was compared to his old Comet Two Sixty (which he'd given to Colin and Dennis Creevy so they could practice flying). A part of him wished that he was able to bring his Nimbus to Hogwarts and that he could test out of flying class, since he already knew how to fly (thanks to Ron teaching him, with his parents' help.)

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"

"UP!" everyone shouted. Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Even though it was technically wrong, he felt a surge of pleasure that his broom had come to his hand before Malfoy's did. Harry also had to stifle a chuckle at the fact that Ron was hit in the face by his broom, since it wasn't nice to laugh at his friends, even if it was funny.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Harry and Theodore exchanged delighted grins when she told Malfoy that he'd been doing it wrong for years.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle – three – two – one –" The whistle sounded and everyone did as directed.

Harry felt slightly frustrated at only being able to hover a few feet off the ground and then landing, since the last time he'd done that was back on his training broom when Ron was teaching him to fly. The second time they were told to fly up again, he went higher, and did a few loops.

"Very impressive, Mr. Potter," said Madam Hooch, "but that wasn't what I told the class to do."

"Sorry, Madam Hooch," Harry apologized. "It's just that I already know how to fly."

"I can see that," she said. "But for now, please obey my instructions with the rest of the class."

After a few more times of rising and landing, each time going a few feet higher, Madam Hooch allowed those that were competent flyers to fly on their own, while she focused on the beginners. Harry flew around to his heart's content, and Ron started a game of catch with Harry's practice Snitch. Harry was the only one to consistently catch it, while Ron, Theo, and Daphne all fumbled at least once.

Malfoy looked annoyed at this, and was even more annoyed at dinner (the AA sat at the Slytherin table) when Marcus Flint went up to Harry and said, "I heard that you were very good at your flying lesson today, Potter. Especially at being Seeker, since you were the only one to always catch the practice Snitch that you and your friends were playing with. We already have a Seeker, and anyway, first years aren't normally allowed on teams, but Higgs graduates at the end of the year, so I want you at tryouts next year, okay? I think you'd make a good replacement for him. And maybe I can talk to Professor Snape and see if I can't try you out to be reserve Seeker this year. It'd be good practice for you, Potter, and there's nothing preventing first years from being a reserve, just a full member."

Harry looked flabbergasted at the offer. Sure, he knew he was pretty good at Quidditch and planned to try out for the team next year, but he didn't expect Flint to want him on the team now, even if it was as a reserve. Also, how did Flint know how the first flying lesson turned out? It wasn't as if the older boy had been watching, and Harry doubted that Madam Hooch had told him.

He glanced around at his friends, wondering if one of them had said something, and saw Tracey blush. _Aha_ , he thought. _Tracey must have found Flint after flying class and told him_. Out loud, he said, "Flint, thanks for the offer, but I'm not sure if you should make me reserve Seeker. Other people might get upset or jealous that I get to be on a House team, even if it's as a reserve, and Professor Snape might not go for it. I'll just attend tryouts next year and make it on the team as a full member then."

Flint looked taken aback, but admitted that the chances of Harry actually playing in a match this year was slim, told him that he had better try out next year, and then went to get his dinner.

"You don't mind that I told Flint about your Quidditch talent, do you Harry?" Tracey asked anxiously. "I know that he's really eager for Slytherin to keep winning the Quidditch Cup, and he does want to know if there's anyone in Slytherin that's good enough to make the team. "

"I'm fine with that, Tracey," said Harry, giving her a smile to let her know that he wasn't upset. "I was just surprised that Flint knew about how well I did in flying class."  
"Ha!" snapped Malfoy. "You're just a show-off, Potter. And I don't think you did so well in class."

"Harry doesn't show off, and you're just jealous that you're not as good at flying as him," Hermione said scathingly. "Furthermore, you weren't invited to be part of this conversation."

"I'm not jealous!" Malfoy retorted. "And what do you know about flying anyway, Granger? You're just a filthy little Mudblood and probably never flew on a broom before until your flying lesson."

There was an instant outcry at his words. "Don't you dare call Hermione that!" Ron spat angrily.

"I ought to hex you, Malfoy!" Harry added, and the rest of the AA joined in at snapping at Malfoy.

"That's enough!" Gemma Farley called, putting an end to the babble. "Malfoy, I do not want to hear you ever calling another student a Mudblood again, or there will be dire consequences. You may not like Muggleborns, but that does not mean you get to be rude towards them. We are trying to change Slytherin's reputation for the better, after all. Now, be quiet and stay out of their conversation."

"What is going on here?" demanded Professors McGonagall and Snape.

"Sorry about that, Professors," Gemma said. "Malfoy here decided to butt in on the AA's conversation, and when Granger reprimanded him, he called her the derogatory term for Muggleborns."

Professor McGonagall's lips thinned and she said, "Ten points from Slytherin. Mr. Malfoy, you will refrain from using such terms in the future. Also, I already spoke to you once today about your behavior. If I have to do so again, especially if it has to do with how you're acting towards– the Amity Association was it – I will assign you a detention. Miss Farley, notify me if Malfoy keeps this up."

"I will, Professor McGonagall," said Gemma, shooting Malfoy a stern look.

"And I would like to speak with you after dinner, Malfoy," Professor Snape added.

Malfoy nodded, and after the two professors had returned to the staff table, he glared around at the AA and Gemma before deciding that he didn't want any more dinner. When Crabbe and Goyle pointed out that they weren't done eating and maintained that they wanted to finish dinner, Malfoy snapped, "Fine then, continue stuffing your idiotic faces! But you'd better join me in the common room when you're done eating!" With that, he stormed out of the Great Hall in a snit.

The following week, on the 19th, was Hermione's twelfth birthday. At breakfast, the AA sat at the Ravenclaw table and all of them wished her a happy birthday and presented her with a card that Dean (who was quite talented at art) had drawn and they had signed. When the mail came, Hedwig brought a birthday card and present from Hermione's parents, and Loki (Sirius and Lia's owl) and Errol (the Weasleys' owl) had birthday cards and presents from the Blacks, Weasleys, and Remus as well.

At the end of classes that day, the AA met up in the Room of Requirement to celebrate Hermione's birthday. The Hufflepuffs in the group had gone down to the kitchens (since their common room was nearby) and asked some of the house elves working there to make a birthday cake. All the members (besides Hermione), had contributed ten Sickles each, and then with the resulting eight Galleons and fourteen Sickles had (using Daphne's and Anthony's owls) had owl-ordered Hermione's presents.

Hermione had expected presents from her first friends, but clearly hadn't expected ones from the entire AA, for she was a trifle surprised when Susan and Harry dropped five gifts in front of her and said, "This is from everyone in the AA, Hermione. Happy birthday!"

"Thank you so much, everyone!" she exclaimed with happy tears in her eyes, once she'd gotten over her surprise. She got up and hugged everyone, even the boys (all of whom, with the exception of Ron, Harry, and Neville, were surprised by it), and then proceeded to open her presents.

The first one was a box of Toothflossing Stringmints and another of fruit drops. The second one was a charm bracelet with book, wand, cauldron, quill pen, and two letter 'A' charms, and the remaining three were books from Flourish and Blotts. One was a novel about a wizarding archaeologist and the other two were about some famous Ravenclaws.

Hermione thanked everyone again, and then her birthday cake was cut and slices passed around to everyone.


	14. Chapter 14

The next birthday in the AA was Theodore's taking place on October 22nd. By that time, the group had decided to do what they had done for Hermione's birthday. Neville and Hannah had made up sixteen small boxes, each one labeled with their names, and everyone had to put in a Galleon in each box that wasn't their own. Since Hermione's birthday had already passed, for her box, the others only had to put in eight Sickles each (which then got traded for seven Galleons, with a Sickle remainder). Half of the money in each box would go towards birthday presents and the other half for Christmas presents.

As Sirius had insisted on buying Harry a trunk with a second compartment, one that was then spelled to only open to Harry (with his first friends as backup in case something happened to him), he put the boxes in the second compartment for safekeeping (with the rest of the stuff he wanted to keep safe, like the Marauder's Map and the family invisibility cloak). A week before Theodore's birthday, Harry extracted eight Galleons from Theo's box, and sent the money off with the order forms that Anthony had filled out via Hedwig. Two owls appeared at mail time the day before Theodore's birthday with the two packages containing the ordered gifts and eight Sickles and five Knuts change.

The following day, the AA presented Theodore with his birthday card (drawn by Dean) at breakfast (they sat at the Slytherin table). The Hufflepuffs had again requested a birthday cake from the house elves and after classes that day, the AA met up in the Room of Requirement to celebrate. He was quite pleased to open his presents and discover a box of his favorite chocolates, two books (one about the Muggle world, since he wanted to learn more about Muggles, and the other in a book series of a fictional adventurer that he enjoyed), and a sterling silver ring with the letters "AA" engraved on it. Hermione had imbued the ring with a Shield Charm so that he would be protected from basic spells.

"Thank you for the wonderful presents, everyone," Theodore said, a grin on his face. "They're so much better than what Father sent me." (His father had sent him an extremely formal birthday card and a rather dull book about pureblood etiquette and traditions that morning when the mail came.) He immediately put on the ring and ate one of the chocolates.

The next week, on Thursday, was Halloween. Harry woke up to the smell of baking pumpkin wafting throughout the castle. He lay in bed for a few minutes, wondering what the day would be like. Back when he was living with the Dursleys, his aunt and uncle had never really cared for Halloween. While they did hand out sweets to the neighborhood children that went out guising and allowed Dudley to do the same, they had made it clear (to Harry anyway) that they disapproved of the holiday. Dudley had never been allowed dress up in stereotypical Halloween costumes like vampires and the like, and only allowed costumes that didn't have a basis in fantasy or the supernatural, like animals or historical personages. Of course, Harry being in costume or going out guising was out of the question.

When he had gone to live with the Grangers, however, he had celebrated Halloween last year. Sirius and Remus had taken him to Godric's Hollow so that he could visit his parents' graves and see the remains of their home (which had become a historical site) and the statue put up in their memory. In the evening, he had gone guising with Hermione and Ron, with the three of them in costume as Luke Skywalker (Harry), Princess Leia (Hermione), and Han Solo (Ron) from the _Star Wars_ trilogy (Lia had shown them the movies). Sirius had accompanied them as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and persuaded Remus to join them dressed as Chewbacca. That had been very fun for them.

Since Harry was at Hogwarts now, he knew that he would still have classes to attend, but there would be a feast in the evening to celebrate the holiday. He also figured the AA could do something fun for an hour or two before the feast, and take a few minutes of silence to honor the memory of his parents. For some reason, the wizarding world (with the exception of a few people like Sirius and Remus) didn't focus on the fact that Lily and James Potter had died that day, even though they were pretty famous for fighting against Voldemort and had given up their lives for their son. Everyone focused more on celebrating Halloween, or made preparations for honoring Voldemort's downfall the following day.

 _At least the people close to me remember or honor my parents' sacrifice_ , Harry reflected. _Which now includes the AA. And I didn't even have to say anything. Justin was asking about Halloween traditions in the wizarding world, and in the middle of it all, he suddenly remembered that it was the night that Voldemort went after me. He understood why everyone celebrated Voldemort's downfall the next day, but was shocked to hear that most people didn't even take a moment to honor my parents' sacrifice. The rest of the AA immediately declared that they would take the time to honor their memory._

At breakfast, the AA sat at the Hufflepuff table. They asked if Harry was okay, and he said patiently, "I'm fine, guys. Yes, I'm a bit sad that it's the anniversary of my parents' deaths, but since I don't remember them, or anything about the event other than flashes of green light, I'm not as sad or upset as Uncle Sirius and Remus are. I'll take the time to honor my parents' memory, and then I'll focus on celebrating Halloween. That's what I did last year, and Uncle Sirius says that's what my parents would have wanted me to do, to not dwell needlessly on their deaths and enjoy life."

Classes went well that day for Harry, other than History of Magic, which was as boring as usual. He went down to lunch, however, to find that Hermione was upset, and the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff members were angry. "What happened?" he asked, taking a seat at the Ravenclaw table.

"Zacharias Smith is what happened," Susan said angrily. "We just had Charms class, and Professor Flitwick was teaching us the Levitation Charm. Naturally Hermione was the first one of us to master it, and that upset Smith, especially since he'd been partnered with her. When class ended, he snapped at her for being 'an annoying, know-it-all Ravenclaw that just has to show off'. Of course, we all stood up for Hermione and told Smith off, but she's still upset over it, and we're all mad."

"Smith said that to Hermione?" demanded Ron, turning angry. "Can I go punch him?"

"Sit down, Ron," Tracey ordered. "Punching Smith in the Great Hall, in front of all the teachers, is an idiotic thing to do. You'd get in trouble for retaliating, and he's not worth it. We can come up with a more subtle way of revenge on Hermione's behalf. Didn't your godfather send you some prank items this morning, Harry? We can test out some of them on Smith."  
"I guess," said Harry. While he certainly felt that Zacharias Smith deserved some sort of consequence for being rude to Hermione (especially as the Hufflepuff objected to the AA and insisted that Slytherins couldn't be trusted), he wasn't sure how he felt about pranking someone in retaliation. He didn't want to end up a bully like his father had been. On the other hand, Harry supposed that he would be able to control himself and not go too far, since he knew exactly what it was like to be a target of bullying.

"Oh, maybe you could dump some itching powder on Smith's robes, Neville and Justin," Theodore suggested, "since the two of you are his dormmates and all."

Neville and Justin exchanged looks. "That's a possibility," the latter said. "Let's not get carried away, though. Playing a prank or two to teach him a lesson is fine, but more than that is just bullying."

"I wish you wouldn't do anything to Smith at all," Hermione interjected. "Yes, what he said upset me, but it's not like I haven't been called a know-it-all before. I was teased before in primary school, so it's nothing new. Also, I don't want you guys getting in trouble over me."

"Hermione, you're our friend," Parvati said. "We're not going to let anyone get away with hurting you. If Gemma Farley and Professor McGonagall hadn't taken care of the matter when Malfoy called you the m-word, we would have done more than just stick up for you with words."

"Also, we'd be doing the same for anyone in the AA," Terry added. "If Smith had called me a know-it-all Ravenclaw, the rest of the AA would still be mad at him and would want to get back at him."

"Don't worry, Hermione, we'll make sure not to get caught for retaliating," Daphne said. "The four Slytherins here have the cunning and experience to come up with a plan to prank Smith that won't result in us getting caught. We can discuss this later, in private."

Hermione gave in, and the subject was dropped for the moment. After classes, the AA met in the Room of Requirement as usual. After taking five minutes to honor the memory of Lily and James Potter, Harry handed over the box of prank items that Sirius had sent. After a short discussion, it was decided that Justin would sprinkle some itching powder on a set of Smith's robes. Justin would then return the powder, so that if he were accused of perpetrating the prank, there would be no evidence. Daphne also planned on discreetly flicking a pellet with a Color-Changing Charm on Smith at some point in the next couple of days, which would turn his clothes bright green and pink until it wore off two hours later. The two pranks were decided as enough 'punishment' for what he'd done. He'd be inconvenienced briefly, and in the case of his clothes changing color, embarrassed for a bit, but it wouldn't do him any lasting harm and perhaps teach him to keep his rude comments to himself.

The AA went down to the Halloween feast in a more cheerful frame of mind, though Hermione was still just a bit dubious about playing pranks on Smith, even if it was deserved. She didn't say anything, however, and focused on enjoying the feast with her friends at the Gryffindor table.

Partway through the meal, Professor Quirrell ran into the Great Hall, his purple turban askew and a look of terror on his face. "Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know!" he gasped out, and then collapsed to the floor in a faint.

After a second to comprehend what he had said, the Great Hall erupted in pandemonium, silenced only when Professor Dumbledore let out several loud bangs with his wand. "We teachers will take care of this matter," he said loudly. "In the meantime, I would like the prefects to escort everyone to their respective common rooms."

"Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore!" Anthony shouted. "If the troll is in the dungeons, won't that mean that the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs are in danger? The Slytherin common room is in the dungeons, and the Hufflepuff common room isn't that much further way in the basement."

Professor Dumbledore blinked, as if that had never occurred to him. "You are absolutely right," said Professor McGonagall. "Five points to Ravenclaw for pointing that out, Mr. Goldstein. I would like the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs to remain in the Great Hall while the others can – what is it, Miss Granger?"

"Wouldn't it make more sense for all the students to remain here, Professor?" Hermione asked. "You can magically barricade the doors to the Great Hall or something until the threat is over. The troll can leave the dungeons, so imagine if it ran into some of us as we were evacuating."

"That's true," Professor Flitwick pointed out. "We should follow Miss Granger's suggestion."

"All right then," said Professor McGonagall. "Students, you are to remain in the Great Hall and finish the feast. The prefects and Head Boy and Girl are in charge. We teachers will deal with the troll."

Professor Quirrell came to at this point, but since he'd just fainted, Professor Dumbledore suggested that he stay behind to recover and help the prefects and Head Boy and Girl keep order. For a second, Harry thought he saw a look of anger on Quirrell's face, but if there was one, it was replaced by the Defense teacher's usual look of nervousness.

The rest of the staff left the Great Hall, with the Headmaster magically barricading the doors so that the troll couldn't get in if it were to wander to this part of the castle. An hour later, by which time the students were eating dessert, the teachers returned to report that the troll had been found and dealt with. "We are now looking into how it got inside the castle," Professor Dumbledore said. "I am sorry about the interruption in the festivities, but there is no need to worry."

The AA exchanged looks. There had been plenty of speculation going on as everyone was eating, over how a troll had gotten into the castle. At one point, someone had suggested that Peeves had let it in for a prank, but the prefects had shot it down. Trolls weren't normally found wandering near Hogwarts, for one thing, and for another, poltergeists never left the building they inhabited, unlike ghosts. Since the wards on the school would prevent a troll from just wandering in, however, the prefects did agree that someone other than Peeves would have had to let it in.

"I'd think Professor Quirrell let the troll in, since he was the one that ran in to tell us about it," Theo said. "It's just that I can't think of any reason why he'd want to do so. Also, considering how scared he is, and the fact he fainted, I can't imagine him letting a troll in."

"I thought I saw a look of anger on his face when he came to and Professor Dumbledore told him to stay here in the Great Hall," Harry said. "Maybe Quirrell _did_ let the troll in, as a distraction of some sort, and was planning to do something as the students were evacuated and the teachers were looking for the troll. But it obviously didn't go as planned, since he was told to stay with us students."

"I saw the angry look too," Hermione said. "But I can't imagine why Quirrell would need to cause a distraction. Maybe we were mistaken about the look, and there's nothing going on with Quirrell."

Since none of the others could think of any reason as to why Quirrell would want to cause a distraction, the AA stopped speculating on the troll matter. The students finished dessert, and then were dismissed.


	15. Chapter 15

It wasn't until the following week, on November 8th, when the AA was celebrating Susan's birthday, that they found a possible reason as to why Professor Quirrell wanted a distraction. As it was a Friday, they decided to spend the evening after dinner playing Muggle board games that Susan had wanted to try out. Harry had brought out his Monopoly set, and Hermione had gotten her parents to send them a couple more of her Muggle games via Hedwig.

Among her presents from the AA, Susan had gotten a charm bracelet identical to the one gifted to Hermione, except that her charms (other than the two letter A's and wand) were a heart, a lily (the meaning of her name), and a badger. Hermione had imbued the bracelet with a Shield Charm, and Susan kept fiddling with it as she played Monopoly with half the AA. (The other half was playing Cluedo and The Game of Life, the latter which had all the money changed to read as Galleons).

After some time, the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws in the AA left for bed, but the rest were still caught up in the Monopoly game, which hadn't ended yet. Harry and Justin eventually declared bankruptcy and after handing over their mortgaged properties to Susan and Theodore, sat back to watch. By the time that Susan ended up winning the game, Daphne looked down at her watch and gasped.

"It's past curfew!" she exclaimed. "Look, it's after ten o'clock."

There were groans from the others and Harry wished that he had thought to bring his invisibility cloak with him. The again, the cloak was only big enough to cover himself and two others, so it wouldn't have helped much. At least he had the Marauder's Map on him, so they could use it to avoid teachers or Filch, and the Hufflepuff common room was mostly on the way to the Slytherin one.

Hermione had taken her games with her, so after the Monopoly game had been packed up, Harry stuffed it into his bag and took out the Marauder's Map. " _I solemnly swear I am up to no good_ ," he said, tapping the parchment with his wand. Once the map was revealed, he made sure that there was nobody else in the corridor outside and then everyone left the room.

They were walking on the third floor when Daphne pointed at the Map and said, "Why is the name, I think Tom Riddle, right above Professor Quirrell's?"

After a quick check to make sure that Filch or a teacher wasn't anywhere near, the eight of them ducked in an alcove and gathered around to look at the map. Daphne was right, and there was a dot labeled as both 'Tom Riddle' and 'Quirinius Quirrell' in what was presumably the Defense teacher's private quarters. The others exchanged looks, since it didn't make sense for a dot to have two names.

"Maybe the two are standing so close that their dots merged as one on the Map," Neville suggested.

"I suppose," Tracey said. "What I want to know is why Professor Quirrell is meeting with this Tom Riddle, whomever he is."

"Wait, I've seen that name before," Theodore said. "Harry and I went to look at his father's Quidditch awards in the Trophy Room last week, and since the Potters had been Head Boy and Girl, we looked at the lists naming them also. The name Tom Riddle was on the list of previous Head Boys."

"So why is an old Head Boy visiting Hogwarts?" Hannah asked. "Or would the better question be why Professor Quirrell is meeting with an old Head Boy?"

"Is it really any of our business?" Justin asked hesitantly. "We shouldn't poke our nose in –"

A meow interrupted him, and the eight looked down to see Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, staring at them a few feet away. Harry glanced down at the Map again and saw a dot labeled as 'Argus Filch' was two corridors over. "Filch isn't that far away!" he hissed. "We'd better run before Mrs. Norris fetches him!"

The eight immediately ran off as Mrs. Norris meowed again and slunk off, presumably to get Filch. The group soon found themselves at the end of a corridor, in front of a door. When Theodore tried it, the door proved to be locked, and a look at the Marauder's Map showed that Filch was headed their way.

"Oh no," Neville moaned, and the others didn't look happy at the prospect at being caught wandering about after curfew. Justin made to futilely try the door again, but Daphne shoved him aside.

"Sorry, but I'll handle this." She tapped the handle with her wand, saying, " _Alohomora_!" and with a click, the door unlocked and swung open. The eight of them piled inside and she shut the door.

"Thank Merlin you know the Unlocking Charm, Daphne," Harry muttered. Seconds later, they heard Filch, who evidently decided that there was nobody around and told Mrs. Filch that they would look for the out-of-bounds students elsewhere. As his footsteps faded away, the others breathed a sigh of relief and Harry went to check the Map to make sure it was safe to come out.

Suddenly, a squeak of terror issued from Justin, and the others turned to see what he was looking at. They weren't in a room, as they had supposed, but in a corridor, specifically the forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden. To their horror, they were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva handing in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.

It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Harry knew that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant. Theodore, who was closest to the door, wrenched it open and the eight of them scrambled out the corridor. He slammed the door shut, and they ran, they almost flew, down the corridor. Luckily Harry had managed to keep his grip on the Marauder's Map, so a quick glance showed that Filch had gone several corridors away.

They continued running and didn't stop until they reached the corridor to the Hufflepuff common room.

It took several minutes for them to catch their breaths and recover from the chock.

"What in Merlin's name is a Cerberus doing in Hogwarts?" Theodore demanded angrily, the first to finally speak. "And making it so that any student who knows an Unlocking Charm can find it!"

"I agree about the whole Unlocking Charm thing, Theo, but I think I know why it's here," Daphne replied. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor?" Harry suggested sarcastically. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."

"No, _not_ the floor," Daphne said tartly, though considering the scare she'd just undergone, it was understandable she'd be snappish. "It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."

"That makes sense," Susan said. "According to Greek myth, the original Cerberus guarded the gates of the underworld. But what could this one be guarding? And why does it have to be hidden here?"

"Hagrid had to fetch something from Gringotts for Professor Dumbledore the day Neville, Hermione, Ron, and I bought our school supplies," Harry remembered. "Maybe that's what is being hidden. And as to why it's being hidden here, well, maybe it was no longer safe at Gringotts. There was that break-in later on the same day. And Hogwarts is the other safest place in Britain to hide something."

"Yes, but that still doesn't excuse having a dangerous beast locked behind a door that can be opened with an Unlocking Charm at Hogwarts," Theodore snapped. "If a Cerberus has to do the guarding, it could at least be behind a door that's magically barricaded, like what Dumbledore did to the Great Hall doors during the troll incident. I know Dumbledore told everyone to stay away, but there's bound to be students, like the Weasley twins, that would take it as a challenge, or at least have their curiosity override their rule-abidingness, and try to find out what's in the forbidden corridor."

"You have a point," Harry said. "Look, I'll talk to Uncle Sirius and Aunt Lia about it via our two-way mirrors and see what they have to say about it. And we can tell the rest of the AA about it tomorrow and get their thoughts on things."

The others agreed, and then the Hufflepuffs headed down the corridor to their common room. Harry checked the Map again, and the Slytherins made their way to their common room in the dungeons. Once in his dorm room, Harry extracted his two-way mirror from the second compartment of his trunk. Luckily for him, Malfoy and his cronies were in the common room, and Blaise had just left to take a shower, so only Harry and Theodore were in the room. Lia promptly answered Harry's call.

"Hello, Harry," she said with a smile. "I suppose you decided to stay up later, since it's Friday?"

"Not exactly," Harry replied. "The AA, or the half of it I was with, lost track of time. Could you get Uncle Sirius to join you?" Sirius appeared a minute later, and Harry quickly explained how in the midst of celebrating Susan's birthday, the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins in the AA had lost track of time with the Monopoly game they were playing and therefore were out after curfew. He then went on to mention seeing Professor Quirrell and a Tom Riddle meeting together on the Map (which still showed them as being in the same room), and then how the group ended up in the forbidden corridor to avoid Filch.

"There's a three-headed dog guarding something at Hogwarts?" Lia asked incredulously.

Harry nodded, and Theo interjected with the points he had brought up earlier.

"You're completely right, Theodore," Sirius said, exchanging troubled looks with his wife. "I'm going to talk this over with Remus, and then Lia and I will visit Dumbledore tomorrow. I suppose whatever being hidden at Hogwarts is safer there than at Gringotts, but at the very least we need to have him make it so that it's harder for any random student to just get in the forbidden corridor."

"Thank you, Uncle Sirius and Aunt Lia," said Harry gratefully.

"And we'll look into this Tom Riddle person," Lia added. "If he was a previous Head Boy, it shouldn't be too hard to find out what he's doing today, since Head Boys and Girls usually went on to make a name for themselves. If need be, we'll also bring up the matter to Professor Dumbledore."

Harry thanked his godparents again, and then bid them a good-night.

The following day, the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors of the AA were told about the events of the previous night. Hermione was horrified to find out that half the group had been out after curfew, but relieved that they hadn't been caught been Filch or attacked by the Cerberus. They all agreed with Theodore about the dangers of having a dangerous monster that was behind a door that could be opened with a simple Unlocking Charm.

"It's a good thing your godparents are speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, Harry," Lavender said. "Hey, do you think Professor Quirrell could be after whatever's being hidden?"

The others stared at her in surprise. "That would be an explanation for why he would want to cause a distraction with the troll on Halloween," Padma said thoughtfully. "He probably thought that while the students were being evacuated to the common rooms and the teachers were searching for the troll, he could slip away to the forbidden corridor in all the commotion and try to get past the Cerberus."

"The only problem is that he doesn't seem to be type," Terry pointed out. "Quirrell's practically scared of his own shadow. And he fainted right after he reported the troll."

"Hey, maybe it's this Tom Riddle person that he was meeting that wants the hidden object!" Justin suggested. "Riddle could be, what's the word, intimidating Quirrell into helping him."

"That's actually a plausible theory," Hermione said thoughtfully.

Harry took out the Marauder's Map so he could check up on the location of the Defense teacher, and frowned when he saw that Tom Riddle was still with Quirrell, this time in Quirrell's office. "Why is Tom Riddle still meeting Quirrell?" he asked, showing the Map to the others.

"Something weird is going on," Ron said. "You'd better tell Sirius and Lia about this, Harry."

Fortunately, Harry had his two-way mirror on him, so he was able to do so at once.

His godparents looked alarmed when they heard the news. "I've got Eric looking into this Tom Riddle, with Tristan's help," Lia said. "They're going to report their findings at lunch."

"Also, Lia and I are meeting with Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall this afternoon," Sirius added. "We'll notify them about Quirrell meeting with Tom Riddle and figure out something about dealing with it. I don't completely trust the headmaster with your best interests, Harry, but I do trust that he will do something about this, especially if it turns out to involve Voldemort or his followers."

"Thank you so much, Aunt Lia and Uncle Sirius," Harry said, greatly relieved.

"Don't worry about things, we'll handle it," Lia said. "And we'll make sure to update you on what we find out, okay? You can tell the rest of the AA what we tell you."

Harry nodded. "Okay, Aunt Lia. And we'll make sure not to tell anyone else."

"Good," said Sirius. "After our meeting with Dumbledore, Lia and I plan to visit with you for an hour or so. Is that fine with you? And we can meet the rest of the AA in person."

Harry agreed, and at four in the afternoon, Sirius and Lia appeared at the Room of Requirement. They greeted the AA, and then sat down to tell them the results of the search and the meeting with the headmaster and Professor McGonagall.

"Eric and Tristan couldn't find too much about Tom Riddle, just that he worked at Borgin and Burkes, a store in Knockturn Alley after graduation for a few years and disappeared within thirty years later," Lia said. "However, there were rumors that he went on to become Voldemort, and Professor Dumbledore was able to confirm those rumors for us."

Several people choked, while the rest gasped in shock or looked horrified. "Exactly," Sirius said grimly. "Since Voldemort is supposed to have been defeated when he tried to kill Harry, that means his shade is still around and therefore most likely possessing Quirrell. Professor Dumbledore admitted that the object being hidden at Hogwarts, on the request of a friend and previous mentor of his, is something that Voldemort, or should I say Tom Riddle, would be after so that he can try to regain a body and return to power. Dumbledore and McGonagall are going after Quirrell right now and confronting him and the shade of Riddle of possessing him, while Snape is going to put a magical barricade on the door of the out-of-bounds corridor. So that matter has been taken care of."

"Oh, and both Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore have awarded all four houses a hundred points each for the AA finding out that something suspicious was going on and getting it reported," Lia added. "So that's twenty-five points to the each of you. But Professor McGonagall did ask that I pass on the message to keep better track of time in the future, so that none of you end up out after curfew. In this instance, it turned out to be a good thing, so she's letting it slide, but in the future she will have to take points and assign detention if such a thing is brought to her attention again."  
"We'll do that, Aunt Lia," Harry promised. "Last night was really scary for us."

Lia nodded and continued, "There is something that we were going to tell you in a letter, but since Sirius and I are here now, we'll tell you in person. I asked Ellie to drop by this morning, and she confirmed it. I'm going to have a baby, which makes you an older brother, Harry."

Harry blinked in shock, as he processed this information. Technically, he could be seen as a brother twice over, since any child of his godparents would be his god-sibling, while as their adoptive son it would make their biological child an adoptive sibling. "That's great news," he managed to get out.

The rest of the AA chimed in with their congratulations. Sirius grinned. "Thanks, everyone. We asked Remus and my cousin Tonks to be primary godparents, and Ellie and Tristan as secondary ones."

"What are you going to name the baby?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"We haven't decided yet," Lia said. "We just confirmed it today, and the baby isn't due until June, so there's plenty of time to decide on a name. Harry, when the Christmas holidays arrive, you can help us set up the spare room as a nursery."

"I'd like that," Harry said, wondering what it'd be like to be a brother to someone. All right, Hermione had been his foster sister for over a year, Neville was his god-brother, and Ron was like a brother to him, but that wasn't the same as being an actual brother to someone (even if it was via adoption). Not to mention that all three of them were older than him (though in Neville's case, it was only by ten hours and some odd minutes), whereas he was now going to become an older brother. Since Aunt Lia wasn't due until June, that meant he would be almost twelve years older than this new sibling.

"Wait a second," said Ron, straightening. "Does this mean I'm basically an uncle, since you're my foster sister, Lia? And my parents are now grandparents?"

"You could say that," said Lia, looking amused. "Of course, biologically, you'd only be a third-cousin once removed to the baby, through your relation with Sirius, but you can be 'Uncle Ron'."

Ron looked a little dazed at the idea of actually being an uncle.

Sirius chuckled at the reaction and then he and Lia took Harry aside for a private conversation. Harry reiterated what he'd written in his letters, that he was doing well at Hogwarts, enjoyed spending time with the rest of AA and visiting Hagrid for tea once a week, and generally having a good time at school.

"Good," said Sirius. "If there's nothing else then, Lia and I will go find Percy and the twins to tell them the news about the new baby, and then we'll return home." He and Lia hugged Harry, told him that they loved him, and then bid the AA good-bye.

Author's Note: For those who don't know, 'Cluedo' is the British name for the board game known as 'Clue' in the United States. Since this is an AU and there is the influence in Harry's life from all those that had a hand in raising him after his rescue from the Dursleys, the events of first year aren't going to play out exactly the same as in the books. Since Harry has adults in his life that he can trust and go to (starting with Sirius, Lia, and Remus and going on down to the Grangers, Weasleys, Lia's group of friends, and finally Professor McGonagall), he naturally would notify his godparents about the disturbing things he found and seek their help. Of course, since Quirrell (with Voldemort/Tom Riddle possessing him) is now found out, that means someone else will have to take the post of Defense teacher for the rest of the school year, and for the AA, things are going to be like any ordinary term at Hogwarts, at least until second year starts.


	16. Chapter 16

The following day, at dinnertime, Professor Dumbledore stood up and made an announcement. "Due to some information that was brought to my attention yesterday, I discovered that Professor Quirrell was suffering under the effects of Dark Magic that he encountered while he had been traveling last year. I have taken care of this matter with Professor McGonagall, but unfortunately Professor Quirrell has been so adversely affected that he will no longer be able to teach, as he could very well die. I am currently making arrangements to hire someone else to fill the post, but until one is hired, I along with Professors Snape, Flitwick, and McGonagall will be taking turns substituting for the next few days."

The AA exchanged looks. What Professor Dumbledore had said was technically the truth, but clearly he didn't want to reveal all the details and cause a panic among the students. The rest of the student body started whispering amongst themselves, speculating as to what Dark Magic Quirrell could have encountered that would so badly affect him to the point that he was near death.

By the end of the week, Professor Dumbledore had found a replacement Defense teacher, for at dinner on Saturday, he made the announcement and introduced the new teacher. Harry was so surprised to see that it was Eric, to the point that Tracey nudged him and hissed, "Are you trying to catching flies?"

He hastily shut his mouth and thought things over. Well, considering that Eric had gotten Outstanding on his Defense O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. and had scored well enough in his other subjects to have qualified for Auror training, he had the qualifications. On top of that, it wasn't as if he had any matters to deal with for Sirius and Lia at the moment or for the foreseeable future, at least until the end of the school year at any rate. Eric certainly also had some experience teaching, for he had joined Remus in giving Harry and Hermione lessons on the wizarding world and magical theory.

Eric, or rather Professor Vicks, turned out to be a much better teacher than Quirrell. Of course, there was no stuttering to contend with, but he proved to be very knowledgeable about Defense and had the first-years work on simple dueling spells, starting with ones like the Knockback Jinx and the Leg Locker Curse. He also made it clear that he treated all houses equally and wasn't prejudiced, for when Malfoy made some derogatory comments directed towards Gryffindors and 'upstart Mudbloods', Eric snapped, "I do not allow such offensive comments in my classroom, Mr. Malfoy, and especially not the rude term for Muggleborns. Twenty points from Slytherin, and you have a detention with me, tonight."

"But you were in Slytherin, Professor Vicks!" Malfoy protested, looking upset.

"So? My being a Slytherin doesn't mean I'll let you say whatever you want. For your information, I highly approve of the effort that many of your housemates are making in order to improve Slytherin's reputation and promote inter-house unity. My twin sister and our best friends were in the other three houses, and one of them happened to be Muggleborn. Now, I suggest you follow your housemates' example in working to improve Slytherin's reputation, Mr. Malfoy, or at the least keep your negative comments to yourself and not say or do anything to hinder their efforts."

Meanwhile, the first Quidditch match of the school year, between Gryffindor and Slytherin, happened. The Gryffindor and Slytherin members of the AA naturally cheered on their respective house teams, but the other members didn't pick sides and cheered on both houses equally. Gryffindor ended up winning, two hundred points to one hundred ten. Marcus Flint looked annoyed that the Gryffindor Seeker had managed to beat Terence Higgs (the Slytherin Seeker) to the Snitch, but he grudgingly shook hands with Oliver Wood (the Gryffindor Captain and Keeper) and said it was a good match.

Lee Jordan, who was friends with the Weasley twins and was the commentator, was very happy with the results and gleefully announced Gryffindor's win. The AA had quite thoroughly enjoyed the match, and after taking a few moments to discuss the outcome, the Gryffindor members left for the party that their House was having to celebrate the win.

The last Saturday in November was the match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The former ended up winning, two hundred thirty points to one hundred ten.

December came and the grounds were covered in snow. The AA often spent a couple of hours on the weekends outside, building snow forts and having snowball fights. The holiday season was also coming up, and Professor McGonagall passed around the sign-up list for those students that were planning to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays. Ron and his brothers would have signed the list, as their parents were going to visit Charlie in Romania, but the Grangers and Blacks had invited them over.

During the last week of term, the AA were discussing what presents to get each other. Harry, Susan, Ron, and Hermione had the responsibility of buying said presents at Diagon Alley and making sure that they were delivered to the appropriate people. Theodore requested having his personal house-elf (inherited from his mother), Peri, pick up his presents for him, as his father insisted on checking all mail that was delivered to his son at home. Anthony was exempt from receiving presents, since being Jewish, he didn't celebrate Christmas and the AA had given him Hanukkah gifts instead.

Harry was in the middle of telling the others not to get him any more Quidditch stuff (since he already had plenty and Sirius was bound to give him more this Christmas) when his two-way mirror went off. He pulled out the mirror and activated it to reveal Sirius, Lia, and Remus, looking extremely upset.

"We just discovered something disturbing, and thought you should know, Harry," Sirius said. "As you know, I've decided to do a more thorough cleaning of the family home, as in clearing it out of Dark objects and stuff, not just doing Cleaning Spells, and Remus and Lia have been helping when they can. Well, I found this locket that wouldn't open, and Kreacher, the family elf, threw a fit when I tried to throw it out. He kept insisting that it couldn't be thrown out, and when I asked him about the locket, he couldn't tell me, since my brother Regulus had given him orders not to tell the family. "

"Luckily I'm not family, so Sirius used that loophole to have Kreacher tell me," said Remus grimly. "He explained everything, and it turns out that the locket, which we speculate is the one that was once Salazar Slytherin's, was turned into a Dark object by Voldemort that would allow him to not die. It has to be destroyed in order to make him mortal again, so we're looking into how to do so. Anyway, from what Kreacher told us, he was loaned out to test the defenses that Voldemort had set up on the cave he was hiding the locket in. Kreacher would have died, if Regulus hadn't given him orders to return."

Sirius looked haunted as he picked up the thread of the story. "Once Reg heard, he was disturbed, and asked Kreacher to take him to the cave. He drank whatever potion was in the bowl holding the locket, swapped it with a copy, and ordered Kreacher to destroy the locket and not say anything about it to the family. Then, as the potion made Reg extremely thirsty, he went to the lake to drink, but as soon as he touched the water, Inferi appeared out of it and pulled him under."

"What are Inferi?" asked Harry, looking worried.

"They're reanimated corpses," Lia said flatly. "Not like zombies, however. Voldemort was known for using Dark magic to reanimate the corpses of those he killed, and they can only be countered with fire. From what Kreacher said, it appears Voldemort had set a bunch of Inferi as a defense in the cave, and anyone that disturbed the water would cause them to appear. Since Regulus, due to the effects of the potion he imbibed, was in no shape to fight them off, they dragged him under to drown."

Since the whole AA could hear, they all looked horrified. Harry said, "I'm sorry about what happened to your brother, Uncle Sirius. But you're not going to make his sacrifice in vain, are you?"

"Of course not," snapped Sirius. "Kreacher was unable to destroy the locket, which tells us that more esoteric methods are needed. We're doing research to find out exactly what kind of Dark object it was turned into, and how to destroy it. Luckily the Black library is quite extensive when it comes to the subject of the Dark Arts, so we should be able to find the information eventually. If it comes to it, we'll even go to Dumbledore about it and get his aid. Right now, we just thought you should know, since because of the stupid prophecy, you're connected to Voldemort."

Harry nodded. "Thank you for telling me. Er, since your brother turned out to realize how wrong he was to join Voldemort and proved to be brave and noble, why not use Regulus as a first or middle name for the new baby, Uncle Sirius? That is, if the baby is a boy."

Sirius stared at his godson, then said in a croaky voice, "That's an excellent suggestion, Harry. We'll use Regulus as a middle name, since Lia and I already decided on naming the baby Matthew, after her grandfather. We hadn't decided on a middle name, except for possibly naming it after me."

"Thanks for the idea," Lia said. "Matthew Regulus will be a wonderful name. Sirius and I have decided on the name Carina Lydia if it's a girl. Lydia is after my grandmother, of course, and Carina is a name that we both happen to like. It's from the Italian word for beloved, _cara_."

"And it's not going to follow the Black tradition of naming after stars," said Sirius firmly. "I've always found it stupid, and I'm only making an exception with using Regulus as a middle name because I want to honor my brother. Even Andromeda, who was disowned and didn't care for the family all that much, followed tradition by giving Dora the middle name of Vulpecula! And Narcissa, one of the few family members who didn't have a star name, goes and names her son Draco!"

Behind him, Remus and Lia exchanged amused looks, and then the three bid Harry good-bye. Once the connection ended, Hermione and Daphne, who happened to be the top students in their year in Astronomy, tittered. "I'm guessing Mr. Sirius wasn't that good at Astronomy," the latter said.

"And I'm guessing Mr. Remus and Lia know but aren't telling Sirius," said Hermione. "Because 'Carina' is also the name of a constellation. It means 'keel' and is referring to the _Argo_ , the ship that Jason used during the Quest for the Golden Fleece in Greek myth."

"So that means Sirius is unknowingly following Black family tradition after all, if he has a daughter!" exclaimed Ron, chuckling at the idea. "I bet Lia won't want us saying anything about it until it's too late to change Carina's name, and it'll be a funny prank to play on Sirius."

"That's all very amusing, but what did Mr. Sirius mean about a prophecy, Harry?" Tracey interrupted.

Harry sighed. "Apparently a prophecy was made that someone born at the end of July, to parents that had defied Tom Riddle three times, would have the power to defeat Riddle. Or rather, one would end up dead at the other's hands, or possibly both could end up mutually dead. Anyway, both Neville and I could have fit the prophecy, but Riddle decided that I was the best candidate, which is why he went after me as a baby, figuring to get rid of me before I could grow up to defeat him. Obviously, it didn't work, and by targeting me, he ended up marking me as the one to actually fit the prophecy."

The AA (minus Neville, Hermione, and Ron, who already knew about the prophecy) gasped and had various looks of worry or shock on their faces. "That's awful!" exclaimed Anthony. "But how did You, I mean Riddle, ever find out about this prophecy and therefore decide to target you, Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "From what Uncle Sirius told me, a Death Eater managed to overhear part of the prophecy and then reported it to Riddle. I think someone was interviewing with Professor Dumbledore to become the Divination teacher at one of the pubs in Hogsmeade."

"Ah," said Terry thoughtfully. "Do you think it was Professor Trelawney? My older sister, plus all the other Ravenclaws that are taking or took Divination, say she's mostly a fraud that sometimes makes a few lucky guesses on the future, but she must have some bit of talent if she was hired."

"Most likely," Susan said. "This Professor Trelawney had just enough of the Sight to occasionally make prophecies, and if she made the one pertaining to you, Harry, she'd obviously be in danger. Especially since there was a Death Eater eavesdropping on the interview. Professor Dumbledore would've hired her as a means of protection, since Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain, besides Gringotts."

"That makes sense," said Harry. "Anyway, this prophecy is why Riddle targeted me as a baby, and if he ever regained his body and returned to power, he'd go after me again. I bet whatever was being hidden at Hogwarts was something he could have used to do so. No wonder he possessed Quirrell and was using him to go after the hidden object. He probably was behind the Gringotts break-in, too."

The others shuddered. "Well, it's a good thing he was found out," said Parvati. "But that doesn't mean Riddle's stopped. He probably fled as soon as Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall confronted him and Quirrell, since he obviously was in no position to fight back, and will be looking for another way to return to power. Unless Mr. Sirius can destroy the Dark object that Slytherin's locket was turned to."

"Knowing Riddle, it won't be that simple," Ron said darkly. "He probably made one more than one thing into those Dark objects that would keep him alive. After all, if he was seeking to be immortal, he'd want to have some back-up stuff in case anyone found out about it."

Now everyone groaned and Theodore said sourly, "I wish you weren't right, Ron. Let's just hope he only made two or three of these Dark objects, and that Mr. Sirius can find out what they are and destroy them. It would be just our luck if Riddle turned a pebble into one and threw it in the ocean."

"From what I read about him, I don't think that's likely," Hermione pointed out. "He seems to be very arrogant and prideful. Also, considering that he didn't hesitate in turning Slytherin's locket into a Dark object, he could have very well tracked down items belonging to the other Founders and did the same to them. Well, he couldn't have used anything of Godric Gryffindor's, since the Sorting Hat is safe at Hogwarts and I read that only a true Gryffindor can ever lay hands on Gryffindor's sword, but Riddle could have somehow found Hufflepuff's Cup or Ravenclaw's lost diadem."

"Diadem?" asked Justin, looking confused, and Hermione explained that it was basically a tiara.

"But how could Riddle get his hands on Ravenclaw's diadem?" Anthony asked. "The chances of him finding it are so remote as to be impossible. There's a reason why it's a _lost_ diadem. Even our house ghost doesn't seem to know anything about it, and the Grey Lady is Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter."

The others stared at him in shock, and he explained, "That's what my parents told me. They asked her about the diadem when they were in school, and while the Grey Lady admitted to being Ravenclaw's daughter, she said that she had no information to impart on the whereabouts of the diadem."

"That's too bad," Padma said. "Well, let's hope that Riddle never did find the lost diadem." The others agreed, and eventually they went back to discussing Christmas plans.

* * *

On Saturday, the school term ended and those that were returning home for the holidays boarded the Hogwarts Express. The AA discovered that the last three compartments in the carriage at the end of the train had been combined into one large one, and they settled into it. As it turned out, Lia's house wasn't big enough to fit the extra guests (unless the Weasley twins and Percy shared the guest room and Ron bunked with Harry), so they were spending the holidays at Grimmauld Place instead. By this point, the entire ground floor and kitchen had been fully cleaned and had all Dark objects disposed of or put in storage in the attic, and so had five bedrooms. Sirius and Lia had the master bedroom, Ron and Harry were to stay in Sirius's old bedroom, and the twins, Percy, and Remus had guest rooms.

Sirius also was throwing a party on Christmas Eve, and in addition to the Grangers, Creevys, and Lia's friends being invited, he had also extended invitations to everyone in the AA and their families. (Well, Mr. Nott wasn't invited, due to being a Death Eater, but Theodore was very welcome.) The Malfoys were also hosting a Christmas Eve party, which the Notts were invited to, but Theodore planned to find some way to avoid attending (perhaps by pretending to feel a bit under the weather) and then secretly Flooing over to the Black party once his father had left. The only AA member that wasn't attending was Justin, since his family had already made plans to attend a party his aunt and uncle were having, and in any case, he didn't live in London like Dean did (which would mean Sirius having to arrange a Portkey). The families of the group would also be attending, with the exception of the Greengrasses. Since they were a strictly Neutral family, having sided with neither the Light or Dark side during the war against Voldemort and currently were Moderates when it came to politics, they were very careful with how they presented themselves in public. Therefore, Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass had decided to attend the Malfoy party, while Daphne and Astoria would attend the Black party.

"I don't particularly care for all this politics stuff at the moment, but Mother and Father do have a point," Daphne said. "The Malfoys do have quite a bit of influence, even if we don't agree with all their views, and the same applies to your godfather, Harry, especially with the Ministry still willing to make up for his wrongful arrest and incarceration. Even though Mr. Sirius isn't hosting a party for political reasons or any other ulterior motive, my parents attending it could be seen as them wanting to align with the progressive or Light side. They don't want to burn their bridges with the Malfoys at the moment, after all. But doing things this way not only allows me and Astoria to attend a party that won't bore us and will allow us to have fun, but also further cements the family's Neutral stance."

"Interesting," said Justin. "My father is somewhat active in the Muggle political world and he takes a moderate stance too, though he's part of the Conservative Party."

"Well, my views aren't so neutral as my parents," declared Daphne, tossing her head. "I'm on whatever side Harry is, since he's the one that helped bring the AA together and suggested that Slytherin improve its reputation. Since he's clearly against Tom Riddle and the Death Eaters, then I shall oppose them too."

Harry made a sputtering noise. "When did I become a leader? I'm nothing special, and it was my parents' sacrifice that enabled me to defeat Riddle."

"I'm not saying you are special," Daphne said patiently. "Though you do have talents of your own, just as all of us in the AA do. Neville, don't try to claim you don't have any talent. You're the top of our year in Herbology, remember? And you're pretty good at Defense and Charms. As for you, Harry, I'm not saying that you're a leader, either, though you would make a good one if the AA decided to have one. It's just that Riddle is after you, thanks to the prophecy you told us about, and I'm just making it clear that as your friend, I will support you if or when he ever regains a body and returns to power. All right?"

"And I'm supporting you too, Harry," Theodore added. "I'm certainly not going to side with my father and ask to become a Death Eater. If it ever came to that, I'd run away like your godfather did, and ask if your family, or any of the others in the AA, could take me in."

The rest of the AA chimed in with their support, and Harry was left trying to process it all. He had finally gotten used to having friends and other people to support him after Lia had rescued him from the Dursleys, but he still hadn't expected the support from his friends to go as far as helping him against Riddle and the Death Eaters. Well, maybe Ron, Hermione, and Neville perhaps, since they were his oldest friends, but not the others.

"But it's going to be dangerous!" Harry finally said. "Lots of people died in the war, like your uncles, Ron, and your uncle and his family, Susan, or suffered greatly because of it, like your parents, Neville. And my parents gave up their lives to protect me! I don't want any of you guys dying or suffering because of me."

"We're not doing it just because of you," said Dean. "After what your godparents found out for me about my father, I'd oppose Riddle and his followers. They're the ones that killed my father, probably because he refused to join them or otherwise opposed them in some way. No wonder he didn't tell Mum that he was a wizard. I suppose he was trying to protect her and me by hiding it."

"Don't forget about all those Muggle fantasy books we've read, Harry," Ron added. "All of them may have the heroes and heroines defeating the main bad guys, but their friends and supporters were with them helping to take down the bad guy's followers."

Harry opened his mouth to protest that they weren't living in a book, then shut it as he realized that not only did Ron have a point, but the story of his life could be seen, or at least portrayed, as a fantasy book to Muggles.

"Good, I'm glad you see things our way," said Padma. "Besides, it's our decision to help you, and you're not forcing us to do it, Harry. Now, who's up for a game?"

The others were quite willing to drop the subject and they split off to play Exploding Snap, wizarding chess, and Monopoly for the rest of the train ride.


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note: I am sorry that it has been awhile since I updated this. I was busy with other things in my life.

At Number 12, Grimmauld Place, Harry and Ron quickly settled in Sirius's old bedroom. The bed that had originally been in there had been removed and replaced with two twin beds and the rest of the furniture had been thoroughly cleaned and refurbished, but not much could be done about the walls. To annoy his parents and perhaps to emphasize his difference from the rest of the Black family, Sirius had used a Permanent Sticking Charm on the things he had hung on the walls. There were numerous Gryffindor hangings and pictures from Muggle magazines. Originally the pictures had been half of motorcycles and half of Muggle girls in swimsuits, but Lia had transfigured the pictures of girls into pictures of Christmas scenes. The only non-Muggle picture on the walls was a photo of the Marauders, taken back at the end of their third year of Hogwarts, just after the end-of-year exams.

The few days leading up to Christmas were spent with Harry and Ron helping with the little decorating that was still left to do (mostly for the party) and going to Diagon Alley for Christmas shopping. The day of the Christmas Eve party came and the Grangers were first to arrive, at three o'clock in the afternoon to help with the last-minute preparations (which mostly consisted of finishing making all the food that was going to be served). Two hours after that, Sirius went out and helped bring in the Creevys and Dean's family inside, since one of the spells the Black family had placed on their house was to keep Muggles from seeing it. The rest of the guests followed during the next hour, with Theodore being the last to arrive. (He had to wait until his father had left for the Malfoy party before he could Floo over.)

The AA, along with Dean's two half-sisters, Astoria, Percy, Fred, George, Colin, Dennis, and Luna were sent to the large drawing room that had been set aside as their hang-out area, away from the adults. Percy was tasked with making sure that things didn't get too out-of-hand and stayed at a reasonable level of rowdiness. As Dean's half-sisters, Sarah and Emily, were closest in age to Dennis (Sarah was the same age as him and Emily was two years younger), the three of them ended up spending the evening together playing, and after Astoria became comfortable enough to leave her sister's side, she joined them. Colin and Luna split their time with hanging out with the AA and learning about the group's time so far at Hogwarts and playing whatever game the younger children were involved in.

At one point, Dennis and Sarah, who were currently reading the _Secret Seven_ and _Famous Five_ series by Muggle writer Enid Blyton, suggested that they pretend to be a society like the ones in the book and make up an imaginary adventure/mystery to solve. Astoria (due to not having ever read any Muggle books) and Emily (who was too young) were the only ones that hadn't read the books before (Luna had read them because Lia had given her old copies to the younger Weasleys to read and they'd lent them to her), so the others had to explain about the book series to Astoria and Emily. Once the six of them finished with their pretend mystery, Harry and Hermione promised to dig up their copies of the books in the two series and lend them to Astoria to read.

Meanwhile, the AA were playing the various Muggle board games that Harry and Hermione owned and talking about pretty much every subject that crossed their minds. At one point, somehow the subject of _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ was brought up, which lead to one of the stories in it, _The Tale of the Three Brothers_ , being mentioned. After Dean had the book explained to him and Harry got a copy from the Black family library for him to read, an argument resulted in whether the Deathly Hallows were real. Theodore, Anthony, Daphne, Padma, Parvati, and Terry all acknowledged that the Elder Wand, or a powerful wand like it, must exist, due to all the reports in history of a powerful wand known by names such 'Deathstick' and 'Wand of Destiny', but insisted that the Resurrection Stone and Invisibility Cloak were just made up for the story. Tracey and Lavender were of the opinion that the Hallows (besides the Elder Wand, which had some proof in history of its existence) could possibly exist. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville, who knew better, took the stance that the Hallows were real, and finally Harry brought out his invisibility cloak and the note of explanation that his father had written as proof (after having the rest of the AA swear a vow of secrecy and making sure the others in the room weren't paying attention to them).

That put an end to the argument, though Anthony did question the story. "Well, which do you think makes a better story, that Death appeared and gave three brothers gifts, or that three talented brothers created the Hallows?" Hermione pointed out. "Also, by writing the story like that, it creates a moral for the readers."

"Good point," Anthony admitted. "But if your family, Harry, has the Invisibility Cloak due to whichever one of your ancestors marrying into Ignotus Peverell's line, and the Elder Wand is floating about in history, then what happened to the Resurrection Stone?"

"Well, I certainly don't know," Harry replied. "My family only dealt with the Cloak, since that's the branch of the Peverell family we married into. For all I know, the Stone could have been discarded as just some random stone after Antioch Peverell died and it's buried in the ground somewhere. I suppose he could have had descendants that the Stone could have been passed on to, but assuming they exist, they must have kept quiet about it like how my family did with the Cloak."

The rest of the AA agreed and the subject of the Hallows was dropped, partly because Lia came in to announce that dinner was ready and for them to go to the next room (which had been set up as a dining room for the young folks) to eat. The party ended by midnight, with Theodore Flooing home first as his father was due to return from the Malfoy party shortly after midnight. Dean's family and the Creevys drove home, while the rest of the guests Flooed back to their homes (with the exception of the Grangers, who were to spend the night, since otherwise they would have over an hour-long drive home). Hermione and her parents were settled into the two guest rooms that had been cleaned up for them.

On Christmas morning, the Harry and Ron woke up to find the stockings that they had decorated hanging at the foot of their beds, bulging with the items they had been filled with. The two hastily exchanged "Happy Christmas" and dumped out their stockings on their beds. They each had two bags of prank items (courtesy of Sirius), a box of chocolate (courtesy of Remus), a mixed assortment of their favorite Muggle sweets (courtesy of Lia), and a red mesh bag containing six Galleons (courtesy of all three). Harry and Ron immediately opened one of the bags of Jelly Babies and ate a few, before heading downstairs to open their presents with everyone else. Hermione, Percy, Fred, and George had gotten identical stockings, except for the former two (who didn't care for pranks) getting a crossword puzzle book instead of joke items.

Christmas wishes were exchanged and then Lia and Remus handed out the presents that were piled under the Christmas tree. Harry received the usual hand-knitted jumper from Mrs. Weasley, this one green with a silver snake on the front, along with a box of fudge, plus a book on European dragons from Charlie and an amulet in the shape of the Eye of Horus that was imbued with a Shield Charm from Bill. The AA had given him a box of wizarding sweets, a book on some famous potioneers of the Middle Ages (which included a chapter on Linfred of Stitchcombe), and (the entire AA had gotten this third gift) a small notebook that had a Protean Charm on it so that the AA could send each other messages in an emergency. Sirius half-jokingly said that they could write notes to each other during class, like the Marauders had done with parchment that they had spelled for that purpose, but Hermione looked scandalized and said that the AA would do no such thing except in an emergency.

As Harry had predicted, he did get Quidditch-related things among his gifts from Sirius and Lia, a book on the history of the Quidditch World Cup and a model of his Nimbus Two Thousand. The rest of his gifts were all quite satisfactory, and then everyone split up to put their presents away, clean up, and get breakfast ready. After breakfast, Sirius and Lia went to attend the Christmas service at a nearby church, and the Grangers, Harry, and Ron (mostly because he didn't want to stay behind with his brothers) joined them. Remus stayed at the house to keep an eye on the twins and get some of the Christmas dinner ready, since he wasn't particularly religious. (Not that the Grangers were either, but they usually did attend Christmas and Easter services at their local church.)

When the group came back from church, Remus and Kreacher the house-elf had finished with making dinner and everyone sat down to enjoy a good meal. After it was over, Sirius and Lia took the kids out to a park for ice skating and winter fun, and once that and tea was over, the Grangers headed home.

The rest of the Christmas holidays passed pleasantly. Lia had to go back to work, but Sirius often would take the kids out to the park so they could have fun, and once he took them all (including Hermione, who had come over for the day, and Luna and Neville, who had Flooed over for the afternoon) to the cinema where they watched the Disney movie _Hook_. Harry and Ron also Flooed over to the Longbottom home once and spent the afternoon with Neville, and they did the same another afternoon with Anthony. That was when the two discovered that the Anthony's family could claim distant cousin-ship through marriage with Newt Scamander, celebrated Magizoologist and author of the Hogwarts textbook _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ , since his wife Porpentina was a Goldstein (from a branch of the family that had emigrated to the United States).

Terry had also Flooed over, and he then mentioned that among his ancestors was one of the founders of Ilvermorny, the North American school of magic. He then had to explain about how the Boot family had emigrated to America back when the colonies were just being started, and the two sons in the family, Chawick and Webster, were rescued from some kind of dangerous magical creature (the parents unfortunately died). They then joined their rescuers (and adopted parents) in eventually setting up Ilvermorny. When Webster Boot grew up, he became what was now known as an Auror-for-hire, and was returning a Dark wizard he'd captured to London for trial when he met a witch at the Ministry of Magic who later became his wife, which was why that branch of the Boot family was British rather than American.

"Then we should be thankful to your ancestor, Terry," Ron said. "If Webster Boot hadn't decided to stay in Britain, then you would be at Ilvermorny, not Hogwarts, and we wouldn't be friends with you."

Terry agreed, though he added, "But if I really wanted to, I could attend Ilvermorny, and so could the rest of my Boot ancestors, since we are descended from one of the founders of that school."

When the holidays ended, it was time to return to Hogwarts. The AA settled into what they now considered to be 'their' compartment at the end of the Hogwarts Express and spent the train ride talking about their holidays and playing games.


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Note: In the previous chapter, Harry accidentally said that Antioch Peverell, the oldest of the three brothers, was the owner of the Resurrection Stone. Of course, he was actually the owner of the Elder Wand and it was Cadmus Peverell, the middle brother, that actually owned the Resurrection Stone.

Winter slowly turned into spring. Slytherin lost their Quidditch match against Ravenclaw (sixty points to one hundred ninety) but won their one against Hufflepuff (two hundred ten points to thirty) and Gryffindor won their match against Hufflepuff (two hundred fifty points to forty). Ron had his twelfth birthday on the first of March and the AA celebrated the event, gifting him with a pair of Keeper gloves, a ring identical to the one they'd given Theodore, and a Chudley Cannon poster. After that, Hermione became rather obsessed with studying for the end-of-year exams, even though they were over two months away. As Harry had attended school with her for a year-and-a-half previously, he was used to her worrying over schoolwork and exams, but her worry this time was worse than at primary school. The other Ravenclaws in the AA weren't as worked up over the matter as she was, even though they were more prone to obsess over schoolwork compared to the others in the AA.

When Ron pointed out that they still had plenty of time before the exams and asked what Hermione was studying for, as she already knew it all, she retorted, "What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me..."

Harry. Ron, and Neville exchanged disbelieving looks, since she hadn't been that worked up about end-of-year exams for primary school last year. Then again, it might have been simply the knowledge that she was going to be attending Hogwarts and her marks at a Muggle school wasn't a factor for a wizarding school that kept her from being so obsessed. Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Hermione. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax with Hermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practicing wand movements, and the other Ravenclaws (who took the homework assignments very seriously) caught some of her obsessiveness and joined in the studying. This led to the rest of the AA spending most of their free time in the library or the Room of Requirement with them, trying to get through all their extra work and revising.

Partway through the holidays, Lia sent Harry a letter advising him that spending all his free time studying wasn't healthy and that he and his friends should take breaks every so often (other than mealtimes and sleeping). With that in mind, he told the others about it, and conceding that Lia had a point, Hermione put in to the revising schedule she'd drawn up for the AA an hour of rest time to take place every other day after dinner and for two hours in the afternoon on weekends. Thereafter, on one of the weekend days, the AA would use their free time to go down to visit Hagrid, who was quite happy to recount to them about his first year at Hogwarts and how he had dealt with exam time. He also ended up telling a few more stories about his second and third years, but refused to explain why he was expelled at the end of his third year. The AA didn't press the subject, but he did inadvertently let drop that he had been framed (for something or other) when saying that Professor Dumbledore had stood behind him and gotten him the post as gamekeeper (though in the beginning, Hagrid had merely been the gamekeeper-in-training under the gamekeeper at the time, a man named Ogg, and only took on the full post upon Ogg's retirement).

After that visit, the AA wondered what Hagrid could have been framed for that resulted in him being expelled. "Sirius said the Marauders asked Hagrid that question once, but he refused to answer then too," Ron said. "Maybe once exams are over, we could see if the library has any old copies of the _Daily Prophet_ from when Hagrid was expelled that could explain what happened."

"I don't know," Harry said doubtfully. "I don't think Hagrid would appreciate us digging into his past, since he clearly doesn't want to talk about it. If I don't want to talk about my past with my Muggle relatives, then think how he feels."

Ron turned scarlet and muttered an apology, while the AA members that didn't know the details of Harry's time with his relatives, other than that they were unpleasant people that hated magic and Harry had to be adopted by his godparents, exchanged looks. None of them would ever pry, but they were smart enough to read between the lines of what Harry did and didn't say about it to figure out that the Dursleys had been neglectful at best and abusive at worst to him. (Though any abuse couldn't have been too extreme, considering how well-adjusted he was currently.)

Harry caught the looks and sighed. "Yes, my relatives were horrible people and treated me awfully. Now, stop looking like that, please. I healed and got over it, thanks to Aunt Lia rescuing me from it, her friend Healer Ellie giving me mind-healing sessions, and Hermione's and Ron's parents showing me how children ought to be treated by their guardians. Oh, and thanks also goes to Mrs. Figg, who used to baby-sit me when my relatives were away and was the one to report the situation to Aunt Lia."

All this did was just make the AA exchange uncomfortable looks with each other, especially Dean and Justin, who having grown up in the Muggle world had a good idea of the circumstances that would result in a report being made to Social Services. Finally Hermione, in a falsely bright tone of voice, exclaimed, "Oh, look at that cloud! Doesn't it look like a bird?"

Harry eagerly seized on the change in subject to agree with her, saying that he thought the cloud looked rather eagle-like, and the others slowly chimed in with their opinions on the shape of the cloud for the rest of the walk back to the castle.

The weeks passed and towards the end of May, on the twenty-eighth, Harry and Ron got a message via the two-way mirror from Sirius and Lia letting them know that the baby had arrived earlier that day. They had a son, named Matthew Regulus as decided previously, and planned to have a christening ceremony the Saturday after the school year ended. Remus was to stand as godfather and Ellie as godmother. Meanwhile, the rest of the AA (with the exceptions of Harry, Neville, and Daphne, whose birthdays were all in the summer) had all celebrated their twelfth birthdays.

June and exam time was shortly upon the first years. It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their exam papers. They had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anti-Cheating spell. They also had practical exams. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see iff they could make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox - points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Professor Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember (in what Theodore muttered was a bit of irony) how to make a Forgetfulness potion. Eric, or rather Professor Vicks, just had them each demonstrate the simple jinxes and defensive spells they had learned that year on a dummy, giving extra credit to those that could also cast any second-year defensive spells.

The first years' very last exam was History of Magic. One hour off answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, all the students cheered.

"That was far easier than I thought it wouid be," said Hermione as the AA joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny ground. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

"I _told_ you that you already knew it all," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "Maybe next time you'll believe me, Hermione."

"Just because you were proven right in this instance doesn't mean that the same will hold true next year, Ronald," Hermione retorted. "Anyway, for question three, I think I may have put in some extra information in my answer about - "

"Stop!" interrupted Tracey. "I know you and the other Ravenclaws like going through our exam papers afterward, Hermione, but the rest of us don't really care to do that. Can we just relax outside, and you four Ravenclaws can discuss the exams on your own later?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Tracey," apologized Hermione. "It _is_ nice to relax after the stress of exams, isn't it?"

The AA wandered over to the lake and sat down under a couple of trees. A short distance away, the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows. The group watched for a few minutes and then they began speculating as whether Gryffindor or Ravenclaw would win the final Quidditch match of the year, which would determine who would win the Quidditch and strongly impact which house won the House Cup. The Gryffindor Keeper was definitely better than the Ravenclaw one, but both teams' Chasers were about equally good, though so far Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor had outscored Roger Davies of Ravenclaw. Neither one of their Seekers were particularly outstanding, however, so it would be more due to luck as to whom would catch the Snitch.

"If you'd been Sorted into Gryffindor, Harry, there wouldn't be much question," Parvati said. "Assuming of course that Professor McGonagall bent the rules to let you play as a first year."

"Considering the fact that she's really into Quidditch and is determined to see Gryffindor win?" Ron pointed out. "There's no assume about it. She'd definitely have fixed it for Harry to play if he'd been Gryffindor."

"Well, Professor McGonagall is just going to have to resign herself to Gryffindor losing and Slytherin no doubt winning next year," said Daphne. "That is, if you're going to try out for the Slytherin team, Harry. Flint did say that he wanted you as Seeker next year, since you're so good."

"Don't worry, I'm going to play," Harry assured her. "I love Quidditch and flying in general, and it's one of the few things I know I'm good at."

"Come on, you're good at plenty of things," Neville said. "Just because you're not the best at almost everything the way Hermione is doesn't mean you're bad at stuff."

The final Quidditch match of the year was an exciting one, and lasted for an hour and fifteen minutes, before the Gryffindor Seeker caught the Snitch when it happened to fly in her direction and fluttered next to her sleeve. Gryffindor won the match, three hundred seventy points to two hundred ten, and the Quidditch Cup. Captain Oliver Wood was jubilant at the win, to the point that he was practically crying in joy, and Professor McGonagall was just as emotional.

A few days after that was the end-of-year feast and the announcement of which house won the House Cup. The points had been pretty close, thanks to the AA working together throughout the year and inspiring a number of the older students to do the same, but in the end, the Quidditch Cup results had mostly determined how things turned out. The Great Hall was decked out in the Gryffindor colors of red and gold to celebrate their winning the House Cup (and breaking Slytherin's winning streak of six years in a row). A huge banner showing the Gryffindor lion covered the wall behind the High Table. When Professor Dumbledore arrived to start things, the babble died away.

"Another year gone!" he said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezzing waffle before we wink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been. Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were...you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts...Now, as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Hufflepuff, with four hundred and thirty-two; in third, Slytherin, with four hundred and thirty-five; Ravenclaw has four hundred and forty-one, and Gryffindor, four hundred and seventy-four."

The Gryffindor table broke out in a storm of cheers, but before it could get very far, Dumbledore interrupted. "Yes, yes, well done, Gryffindor. However, after the splendid display of inter-house cooperation and unity shown this year, I think it would be most beneficial if it were continued with the awarding off the House Cup."

The room went very still as all the students suddenly looked puzzled at this and the teachers exchanged confused looks.

"Since the group known as the Amity Association was instrumental in bringing about the display of unity," continued Dumbledore, "I believe the acknowledgement and reward of their efforts should be used to further house cooperation. So therefore, for their actions, I award twenty-six points to the four Gryffindors in the group, fifty-nine points to the four Ravenclaws, sixty-five points to the four Slytherins, and sixty-eight points to the four Hufflepuffs. I believe that results in five hundred points each for all four-houses, and therefore a four-way tie?"

While the AA wasn't really displeased at the idea of their efforts being rewarded and doing away with house rivalry outside of Quidditch, the rest of the school couldn't say the same. There were shocked or upset protests from many of the students, and a few Gryffindors shot glares at the members of the AA that they could see. Professor McGonagall leaned over to protest, and the other teachers (except for Professor Snape, who actually looked mildly pleased, probably due to Gryffindor no longer being the clear winner) exchanged shocked looks.

"That is enough!" Dumbledore said firmly after a couple minutes of babble. "I have made up my mind and the result still stands. All four houses are tied with five hundred points each and we shall celebrate the inter-house cooperation, which I hope will continue in the following years. Also, as it is a tie, you are all allowed to intermingle with each other regardless of house." He clapped his hands and three-quarters of the red and gold hangings changed to green and silver, blue and bronze, and yellow and black. The huge Gryffindor lion vanished and a towering copy off the Hogwarts crest took its place.

With that, the feast commenced, though nobody (other than the AA and some of the students who took the view that this was better than having Gryffindor being the outright winner) was really in the mood to celebrate the strange turn of events. Certainly inter-house cooperation and unity was a good thing and many of the students liked it, but they still preferred having there be a clear winner of the House Cup and not a four-way tie in which no house lost or won. However, the food was excellent and Professor Dumbledore had made it clear that things would stand, so eventually the school cheered up and decided to celebrate the house unity. A few people, mostly Gryffindors that embodied the negative traits of their house and were upset at not being the clear winner after all, were still annoyed and grumbled against the AA, but otherwise the students had gotten over their shock and/or disappointment.

For the AA (who had taken advantage of being allowed to intermingle by all sitting at the Hufflepuff table), once they had gotten over their surprise, it was the best evening of their lives. They hadn't been too enthused with the idea that only one house would win the House Cup. Certainly the three-quarters of them from houses that didn't win would be happy for the one-quarter of them from the house that did, but they had wondered if it would be better if all four houses had done equally well. They spent the evening chatting happily with each other.

* * *

Harry had almost forgotten that the exam results were still the come (thanks to the events of the end-of-year feast), but come they did. The entire AA passed with good marks; Hermione, of course, had the best grades of the first years, except for Herbology, where Neville narrowly beat her in. Draco Malfoy looked disgruntled when he heard the AA comparing their results at breakfast, and Theodore (who had managed to get a quick look at Malfoy's exam results) whispered to the others that the other Slytherin hadn't done that well (though certainly not as bad as Crabbe and Goyle, who had just barely managed to scrape a pass).

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ("I always hope they'll forget to give us these," said Fred Weasley sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating sweets as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at King's Cross Station.

It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles. Justin told the rest of the AA that his parents had said that they could all visit for a couple of weeks, and Harry added that they were all invited for his birthday party. Neville added that if he could convince his grandmother to host a birthday party, they were all invited as well and Daphne said that as her birthday was in August, she planned to have it coincide with the trip to Diagon Alley for school supplies. The AA agreed to meet up then as well (if their parents/guardians okayed it).

Out in the station, Sirius, Lia, and Remus were there to get Harry. "Ellie and Tristan volunteered to baby-sit Matt so that I could be here to meet you, Harry," Lia explained. "They said it would be good practice for when they have a kid of their own." In the almost month since the birth, she had lost most of her pregnancy weight.

"How's Matt?" Harry asked as he followed his godparents and Remus out the station. "I can't wait to properly meet him."

"He's driving us a little crazy," Sirius said, half-jokingly. "You know, by crying in the middle of night and waking us up. Right now Lia and I are taking turns dealing with Matt when he cries at night, but once Lia's maternity leave is over, I'll end up having to deal with most of it. Unless...I could have Eric do it."

"Sirius!" exclaimed Lia. "Eric's hired to be our solicitor, not nanny! Besides, he doesn't have the first idea of how to care for a baby. But Mum _has_ offered to help us, since she's taken care of seven babies of her own and will have plenty of free time now that Ginny's starting Hogwarts the next school year."

"Thank Merlin for that," Sirius said. "I'd be tearing my hair out over how to care for Matt if Molly and Arthur weren't so helpful and full of advice. Oh, Harry, the Weasleys are coming over for dinner, so Ron, Percy, and the twins can meet their 'nephew', and so are the Grangers."

Harry was happy to hear that and couldn't wait to get home.

Author's Note: Well, Harry's first year at Hogwarts is over. This concludes the fic and the sequel, _The AA and the Duplicitous Diary_ , is out now if you wish to read it.


End file.
